Uzumaki Colosseum
by Fire Inu Princess
Summary: here is Pokemon Colosseum/Naruto crossover, hope you enjoy it, there will be some twist and turns compared to the game.
1. I'm Free

_All my life, I've been nothing… least, I haven't been me. For years, I have been nothing but a tool to the people who had found me… who raised me. I felt like that what we've been doing was wrong, that we shouldn't be doing this just to change the world to how we wanted it. No, not 'we' but 'them' or 'they'… For as long as I could remember, I never had a choice in anything. I didn't have a say, I didn't have a thought I had nothing more than the two Pokémon I was given and the one I saved._

_My partners in both friendship, and crime…_

_I was their top catcher, their top sneak, their top spy… I was trained in the art of stealing anything, in the art of crime. I had skills that no one else had, which was why I was their tool. Though, this is what I have to say… enough, is enough. Today is the end of my old group, my old family… and the beginning of my journey of redemption._

It was a beautiful day… least, as beautiful as it can be in the desert… Narrowing his eyes, the young man… Naruto Uzumaki… quietly walked toward the gate… he knew that it would be hard to get through the base without being seen since he wasn't supposed to return for a few days at the least… Shaking his head, the young man had remembered all the passwords, all the codes, the routes, and the pathways that either he could take or his friend…

Well, more like his friends…

Running a hand through his hair, he slid on his goggles and reached to his black belt as he pulled out two poke balls. "Alright my two friends… come on out… Kushina, Minato." Whispered Naruto as two flashes of light came from the poke balls only to reveal two fox-like Pokémon…

One, was covered in a light purple fur with big ears, two locks of purple fur just under their ears… a red jewel in the center of its forehead… purple eyes a few shades darker than its fur and finally it's long tail which, had split at the end… This, was one of his first two Pokémon… this, was his friend Kushina… Kushina just stared at Naruto with a bit of a tired stare only to yawn.

The next Pokémon was a black furred fox Pokémon called Umbreon. The Pokémon had rounded ears and tail… it had gold rings around all four of its legs, a ring around its tail, ears and finally in the center of its forehead. Its red eyes glowed with power as he stared at Naruto.

Naruto smiled only to sigh and slap his forehead; he needed his last friend, the only one he didn't keep in a poke ball. "Kurama, please come here!" Naruto said in a hushed, yet slightly loud whisper. A soft sound came from his bike's side seat and jumped over to Naruto. Climbing up his loose black pants, climbing up his red long sleeved jacket with black on the bottom of the coat and the sleeves and up over his orange shirt and all the way up to his blonde hair where the little fox-like Pokémon rested. This Pokémon was Eevee, a small brown Pokémon with a white ring of plush fur around his neck and a very fluffy tail that had a white tip…

Its pointed ears twitched at the sounds that surrounded them, and its big brown eyes alert for any danger. This little guy was Naruto's eyes and ears during any kind of operation rather than a battler like the other two.

_"So Naruto, what do you need today?"_ asked Eevee, also known as Kurama from her place on Naruto's head.

"We're going to break into the lab… steal the snag machine and destroy everything so they can't make a new one or even come close to creating new plans since the man that made the blueprints was killed couple years ago." Naruto calmly said, tightly grasping the necklace that was around his neck… he didn't know where he got it, but it was the last key to who he was and where he came from.

Shaking his head, Naruto stared at his Espeon and Umbreon and smiled softly at the two of them… he's had them from the moment they were born as twin Eevee's and had them evolve on the same day… well, least with Kushina evolving into an Espeon and Minato evolving into an Umbreon. Shaking his head, Naruto calmly said "okay, this is what we're going to do, Kurama you're going to go through the vents and I'll be on the main floor sneaking around… You will be keeping a look out so I don't bump into anyone."

Kurama nodded his head though since Naruto couldn't see him, he tapped the blonde's head twice telling him 'yes' as he listened for the rest of the plan.

Naruto stared at Kushina and Minato as he said "you two, well you both work very well, I'll need Kushina to help me set the bombs, in the lab to help me destroy and you, Minato will go to the heart of the base and set up the big bomb understand?"

Minato and Kushina nodded though they both had a big grin. Naruto stared at their eyes, and saw the reflection… when he uses his power to speak to Pokémon… his pupils would turn into slits though when he spoke to humans, they would remain human and circle… Sighing softly he reached into his bike's side seat and pulled out a circular looking bomb with a flat side. Smiling, he walked over to Minato as he said "okay, you remember how to use one of these right?"

_"Yes, press the big red button so it can be activated with the remote in your pocket. I've done this enough times Naruto."_ Minato said as he took the bomb in his jaw and ran off to go plant it.

"Meet back here in half an hour at least, or until you hear an explosion… no wait, Minato come back!" shouted Naruto, before Minato returned so Naruto could attach a headset on Minato's head so they could communicate since sometimes, Naruto has a habit of finishing a mission sooner than it should have taken. After that, Minato took off, jumping on some of the ledges and leaving.

"Kushina, ready? Kurama?" Naruto asked the two remaining of his Pokémon who, both gave their sign of nodding.

_"We're ready Naruto…"_ said the both of them.

Naruto smiled softly, happy that he had some friends at the least… Taking a deep breath, Naruto jumped up on some of the boxes that were outside of the base, Kurama still perched atop of his head and with Kushina right behind him. Naruto couldn't help but smirk… today, was going to be the end of Team Snagem.

Before they went into the vents, Naruto gave headsets to both Kurama and Kushina. Nodding to Kurama, he calmly said "go on ahead and we'll follow." The small Pokémon nodded and jumped on into the vents and walked on ahead, soon Kushina followed and Naruto behind her. He was careful not to make any sounds while in the vents, he had a feeling that there were still many members in the base, so he had to be careful not to alert anyone here that he was back, that was the last thing that he needed.

Narrowing his blue eyes into slits, Naruto looked down at the vents below and at the side as he saw a few people as he walked by… some people were in the cafeteria, least they weren't in the main building so no one would get hurt. Sighing softly, Naruto kept on crawling ahead, he knew that he had to keep going while there was still some time left. The young man knew that he would have to figure a few things out, even hack into the computers to get some info on him…

Maybe… he could find out who he was.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto listened carefully to the sounds that were around him. He could hear people whispering… about him?

"Think Uzumaki will finish his mission?"

"Yeah, he always does…"

"True, but I have a feeling that he's not an emotionless tool anymore."

Naruto wondered what they were talking about… did they know something about him that he wouldn't know? That he would want to know about? Damn it, he wished that he could just jump outta here and beat the truth out of them. But… Naruto knew that right now wasn't a time to be rash, he had to be smart right now, so he couldn't beat them… he had to stop and destroy this base and the members of this group.

Taking a deep calming breath, Naruto kept on crawling through the vents, wanting to pretend that they weren't talking about him, he didn't have the time for this, he had to focus and that was the only thing that he had to do before getting the hell outta here.

"Kurama, anyone ahead?" asked Naruto in a soft whisper.

_"I don't see anyone… I'm guessing that it's safe."_ calmly said Kurama before moving aside for Naruto and Kushina to get through…

Kushina used physic to move the grate to the side and gently place it aside, though before that she had destroyed the video camera's… which would give them about ten minutes to do that they came to do before they came. That would be enough time to get the machine and destroy everything.

Once they got into the room, Naruto hacked into the computers to get all the data about the snag machine and sighed softly. Though, as he was deleting the machines data from the computers, he looked up his own file… "Kushina, while I'm on here, destroy the blueprints with swift."

Kushina nodded, opened her mouth as stars started to fly past her lips and hit and shred the paper into shreds only for those to get ripped up into confetti.

Naruto knew that he wouldn't have enough time to read it… Looking around, he quickly hit the print button for the guards would come down to fix the cameras… as he printed that off, he started to delete the files of the Snag Machine… sighing softly, the young man didn't notice that there were so many files… and the back-up files.

Finishing up the files, Naruto walked over to the printer and quickly took the papers that he had printed out and tucked them away in his pocket. Looking up at the ceiling and the wall, he reached into his bag that he has tied up around his waist, just a little above his waist, he pulled out two bombs. Smirking, he placed one on the wall just behind him… Looking up at the ceiling, he asked Kushina to use physic to get him up above so he could place the bomb on the ceiling. Least that was one thing down… With the machines destroyed, it would give them a better advantage… even if they could get the machines fixed they wouldn't have any files left.

Turning around, Naruto grabbed his Snag Machine and stared at Kushina. "You know what to do."

_"You got it Naruto."_ Said Kushina with a big of a smirk before opening her mouth, a black ball of energy started to form… narrowing her eyes, she launched multiple shadow balls at the Snag Machines. While she was doing that, Naruto stared at the Snag Machine… it was like part of a shoulder sleeve of a shirt that would easily attach itself on his body… Opening up the few clips on the shoulder, Naruto attached it to his jacket and his arm before looping his arm through the coil of the machine and the joint from the shoulder to the a hallow metal cylinder that would go around his forearm, wrist and hand all the way up to his fingers. Since he was right handed, he had to have it on his right hand…

Finally, the final touch to make sure that it would stay on; there were a few clips that he had over a part of the plating that went over part of his chest, the seal over the machine was a line that swirled within itself… and it was coloured in bright red… Sighing, he was happy that the machine was secured to his body… Looking over at Kushina, he said "use shadow ball on the wall so we can get outta here. And Kurama, come down please."

Just like that, the wall was down and Naruto's Eevee jumped down from the vent and landed on his left shoulder and nuzzled him. Naruto couldn't help but smile and pulled out Kushina's poke ball and got her to return before running out of the hole in the wall.

"Minato, is the bomb planted or what? I'm already done."

_"Yeah, I'm on my way out I'll be out soon… please tell me that you didn't press the button."_

Naruto chuckled as he said "don't worry, I didn't press it yet." Smiling, Naruto looked up at the building and quickly, he saw Minato jumping down from the building. Placing Kushina's poke ball back on his belt, and pulled out Minato's and called him back… Once he jumped up on the bike, he put Kurama in the side car and grabbed his key and put it in the ignition as it roared to life.

The front and back wheels split in half as it pushed out energy, as did the side seat. Naruto was so glad for this thing… it could ride over water, sand and could ride on normal road. Everything was perfect for this car. Smirking, he looked in his mirror and gave the base one last look before riding off and pressing the button. The base exploded, he could literally see fire reaching for the sky…

Pieces of metal went left and right, people running at the building… he could faintly make out the outline of his boss. Smirking, he placed the remote back in his jacket, and lifted his middle finger as he said "see ya later fuckers! I'm free, believe it!" And that was when, Naruto felt free for the first time in his life.


	2. Rescue

_I'm free… for the first time in my whole life I feel so free. I never knew that I could feel like this. Like my life for the first time has some kind of meaning now… though, right now I have to find my parents… I have to know where I came from, who my parents are and the town they were from… and if my ability to speak to Pokémon was something inherited or just something that was blessed or cursed upon me._

_I just hope that I'll be able to handle this, and that I can also get the adventure of a life time… little did I know, that was just what I was going to get… after I met… her…_

Naruto didn't know how long he had been driving for… though, what he did know was that he was starting to get hungry. Sighing softly, he tugged at the collar of his jacket to cover his mouth to prevent the sand from flying in… Looking around, the young man tried to see if there was any place that he could go to for something to eat…

_"Hey Naruto, isn't that a broken down train steam engine?"_ said Kurama from the side car. Naruto squinted his eyes as he tried to see through the blowing sands that tried to blind him, though it would have if it wasn't for his goggles covering his eyes. Off into the distance, was what looked like a rusted train steam engine, though why would it be out here in the first place? Though, Naruto knew that maybe it would be good enough to see if they have some food that he could eat or even to go through those files that he had printed off.

Sighing softly, Naruto started to slow down his hover bike, allowing the four hovering pads to combine to create the tires for his bike. Soon, the bike started to slow down until it stopped in front of the train… Naruto wondered how long this place had been here though he didn't make a comment on it.

_"Come on Kurama, maybe we can get something to eat."_ said Naruto to his little friend as the Eevee hopped up Naruto's lowered arm and climbed up onto his head.

Though, the young man couldn't help but notice a strange pick-up jeep… Frowning in confusion, the young man walked over to it and saw some strange sack in the back. Frowning in confusion, Naruto walked over to it wondering what it could be… when he got near it, he thought that he heard a heartbeat… and saw the bag moving up and down a bit near the lip of the bag. Was something or someone in there?

Frowning in confusion, Naruto wondered what could be in there… the thought of stealing this bag… and how much it could be worth… It made Naruto's eyes shine with the very thought of it… He could get rich off of this thing if the price was right! Smirking, Naruto reached out for the bag to steal it… until Kurama had alarmed him…_"Naruto we have to get away from this thing! I hear people coming!"_

Cursing under his breath, Naruto ran to the side of the train and hid within that shadows. There was no way that he was going to get caught right now; he didn't have the time to get caught by his old team.

Walking out of the train and down the ramp were two cloaked figures. Naruto didn't know who they were… he didn't recognise them, but what he could tell was that they had strong Pokémon… though there was also something else. He felt… no, he could hear something in the wind. What were those words…?

_"Must attack… must kill… must destroy… do masters bidding… heheheheheheh…"_

Naruto frowned a little more; it made him wonder what was… Looking up a bit and through his bangs he saw Kurama's face scrunched up as if he was preparing for a battle… did he sense something was wrong? Was there some kind of tip in balance of Pokémon nature? It made Naruto wonder… though, what he could tell from the two cloaked figures, the one had short silver hair and slightly tanned skin… not overly tanned like the other guy but enough to not make him look pale…

While the other man had dark skin and long brown hair, he could faintly make out what they were saying as they walked toward the truck…

"I think we'll be paid very well for this little treasure."

So it was treasure! Damn!

"Yes… though, I still say you should have let me finish the job… I could have done it and be done with it no problem. We don't need anyone knowing about our Pokémon."

"Now Hidan… if you did that people would come after us before we could finish out job." Said the other man as he went to the driver's seat and the other man went to the passenger's seat before they drove off.

"Did you hear that Kurama…"

_"The treasure? Sure… I heard about it…"_

"Not just that… but the voice… it sounded… evil. Was that a Pokémon… it felt… dark believe it." Naruto whispered, finding it hard to believe for a Pokémon to sound that dark… it was as if all emotion had left its body and that it didn't care about who it hurt. That didn't make sense, no Pokémon, good or evil, would be able to sound like that no matter how hard someone could try. It just didn't make a lick of sense…

_"Naruto… you might have been hearing things due to hunger… can we please get something to eat? I'm starving…"_ said Kurama with a yawn, then a nuzzle in Naruto's blonde locks.

Maybe he was right… maybe it was caused by his hunger. Naruto wasn't sure though what he did know was that he was hungry, and needed something to eat and maybe while he was at it, he could read those files he had printed off as he ate his meal. "I sure hope they have Pokémon food for you guys." With that, Naruto walked out of the shadows and was heading toward the ramp that is… until he saw something shiny on the ground…

Frowning in confusion, the young man walked over to the dirt tracks and bend over, being careful not to make his Eevee buddy fall off his head. Picking it up, Naruto frowned a little more when he noticed that it was a necklace… though, the charm on it was the black half of the Yin-Yang symbol… instead of a white dot though, it had a smaller Yin-Yang symbol within it… as if it was still balancing the flow of light and darkness. Shrugging, Naruto gently set Kurama down on his shoulder so he could place the necklace over his head and tuck it into his shirt, next to his other necklace…

Maybe he could find the person of the other half? Never know… he might meet some interesting people on the road.

Yawning softly, Naruto dusted his pants off and started to walk up the ramp and into the steam engine… only to blink in surprise that the inside was a restaurant/shop. Huh… who would have thought… Shrugging, Naruto started to walk to the back… a few people had some Pokémon out with them so he assumed that also meant that they had food for Pokémon.

Taking a seat at the back, Naruto looked over the menu that they had at the table and looked it over… trying to think on what he could get for himself since it didn't seem like Pokémon food was listen on here unless you ordered a specific kind of food for the Pokémon. Frowning in confusion, Naruto listened carefully… trying to see if there were any news around him… though, all he could hear were people's Pokémon complaining… it was annoying as all hell…

Why couldn't he block it out?

When he could hear Pokémon speaking… even if it wasn't at him, his pupils would change into slits, showing that he could understand them… Narrowing his eyes, he slid his goggles over his eyes, thankful that they were tinted so no one would be able to see his eyes.

"Can I take your order?" asked a woman with an apron around her waist, wearing a simple yellow dress… Naruto guessed that it was so the desert heat didn't get to her and cause her body to overheat if she were to go outside…

"I'll have some pork ramen and some Pokémon food for an Eevee, an Espeon, and an Umbreon… please."

"You some kind of Eevee trainer?"

"I like fox-based Pokémon… and I only battle with the two. This little guy here…" He points to Kurama who had gone back to his head moments ago… "he doesn't like to battle so I keep him out of his pokéball…" The woman nodded and wrote down the order before going back to the kitchen that Naruto guessed was one of the new assets to the train-dinner since there was no way that they'd have a big enough kitchen in this place unless they added an extended room for the place.

As he waited for his food, Naruto wondered what he could do… what he should do. He knew that he would be wanted for a while cause of his past… and he would be hunted down for blowing up the base. So he would have to hide somewhere until the cops had forgotten about him so he would be safe in a city.

Though, the more he thought about it the highly unlikely he thought it would happen. He was nothing more than a thief… there was no way that anyone would want to hire him. Sighing softly, Naruto rubbed his temples, finding that it would be hopeless to get a proper job…

Maybe it was just impossible for him to get a good job…

Sighing softly, Naruto didn't know what he could do… life just seemed so annoying right now. Though he had his mission, he had to find out where he came from before anything… maybe even ask around? That would be a good start… though, after he looked over the files…

Reaching into his pocket, Naruto pulled out the folded pieces of paper based upon himself… maybe there would be some clue as to where he came from… or even something on his parents, his power… soon, Naruto started to read…

_Name: Naruto Uzumaki.  
Age: Two Found… Twenty currant age  
Hair: Blonde  
Eyes: Sky Blue  
Unique Qualities: Can talk/understand Pokémon, can also feel and sense their emotions.  
Pokémon Partners: Umbreon-Minato, Espeon-Kushina, Kurama-Eevee.  
Rank: Snagger, thief. _

Naruto just sighed, least they had that part right… though, for them to have the age he was when he was found… how did they know that he was two? Hm… it made Naruto wonder all the more. How could they have known that he was two… that didn't make any kind of sense… what next? They know when his birthday is too! Blinking, he looked down and cursed to himself… he had missed something…

_Birthday: October 10th_

"Oh come on!" He hissed in a whisper before sighing softly.

"Here you go sir." Said the waitress as she set a bowl of ramen down on the table for him, and three containers of Pokémon food, he thanked her, handed her the amount he owed and started to eat his own meal while opening the can of Eevee food… of course Kurama jumped from Naruto's head and started to eat the can… Naruto stopped feeding himself and reached to his belt and called out Kushina and Minato.

He smiled at them and opened the other two cans of Pokémon food and set it down for them as they jumped into the other seat across from him and to eat their own food.

He knew that this would be an amazing meal for the three of them since the only Pokémon food they were ever given were the crap of food that the boss gave him. The thought of the smell… ugh… even he hated the smell of it.

Sighing softly, Naruto looked over the papers as he ate, trying to make some sense of it. These looked like some old reports the boss wrote about him…

_Naruto is a very strange yet interesting young man. He is only three years old now, and yet he already shows progress to being a very powerful trainer. We gave him two Eevee's, hoping that he could use them for our purpose. But what shocks me the most, is that he isn't just able to speak and understand Pokémon, but he can also feel and react to their emotions. Or, I should say their heart._

Naruto became puzzled… he could understand a Pokémon's heart? Is that what causes his powers. It made him wonder if there was more to this than he had thought to be possible. Was he only able to understand a Pokémon because his own heart was connecting to theirs? That would make some sense…

Sighing, he was about to read more until he heard a Pokémon cry out in pain and attack its trainer. Frowning, Naruto recalled Minato and Kushina, which had also caused Kurama to jump up and land on Naruto's head. The young man walked over to the sobbing yet angry Pokémon. It looked like a small dog-like Pokémon with orange fur with black stripes on its back, white fur atop of its head like a Mohawk, and finally there was a puff of fur on its chest and a big fluffy tail. The poor thing looked like it was about to attack the little girl… she took a step toward the growlithe as it growled and got ready to strike.

Acting quickly, Naruto charged forward and stood before the little girl as the growlithe bit Naruto's wrist. Narrowing his eyes into slits, Naruto calmly said "please tell me what is wrong?"

_"It hurts… my paw… it… it hurts…"_

Naruto frowned and gently took the Pokémon's left paw into his and looked at the bottom. Within his paw was a pretty big splinter. The poor thing must have stepped on it only recently for it was still bleeding a little bit. Taking a deep breath, Naruto gently took out the splinter and quickly sprayed with some a potion that he normally uses on his Pokémon after a good battle. The growlithe sniffled before limping a bit back to the little girl and licking her face.

_"I'm sorry Mimi… I didn't mean to try to attack you…"_ said the small Pokémon with a soft whine.

"He's sorry for trying to attack you." Naruto calmly said before smiling and patting the little girl's head and walking out of the restaurant. Though, before he even had a chance to leave someone called out to him.

"You… I want to battle you." Said a male's voice as he stood behind Naruto, which had caused Naruto to turn around and look at a man a little shorter than he is… short red hair dark looking eyes. He had black lines around his eyes and a strange tattoo on his forehead that was the kanji for 'love'. His clothes were a red robe that opened around his waist as he wore black pants and he had a strange backpack on him…

"I do not want to battle. I have a mission to do right now."

"Chicken?"

Naruto froze to that… if there was one thing he hated; it was being called a chicken or a coward. That was just something he couldn't and wouldn't tolerate. Growling, he said 'fine' and started to walk out of the restaurant with the red haired man. Turning around, he stared at the red haired man as he stood a few feet away. He reached into his pocket and threw out two Pokémon. One, looked like a small man with a mask over his face and a pointed nose… atop of his head was a single leaf and around its legs was poufy looking pants.

The Pokémon after that was a small mouse looking Pokémon with yellow lines around its back giving it a brick pattern.

Smirking, Naruto pulled out his pokéballs as he called out "come on out Kushina and Minato, let's win this!"

The twin Pokémon just raised an eyebrow at the two Pokémon that the red haired man was using. Naruto just told them to calm down and relax and just listen to the commands. Sides, from the feel of it, the Pokémon weren't very powerful, so it wouldn't take so long… maybe ten minutes.

"Kushina use psybeam! Minato use hyper beam!"

Kushina gathered up energy in the jewel on her forehead. As for Minato, he smirked and opened his mouth as an orb of golden energy started to form. Naruto knew that both attacks would take some time but knowing these guys, they would be able to handle a few hits.

"Nuzleaf, razor leaf! Sandshrew use scratch!" The Nuzleaf had made the leaf atop of his head stand on end and had waved it toward Naruto's Pokémon. Causing sharp leaves to charge toward the young Pokémon, Naruto knew that they would be able to easily dodge the attack. There was no way that they would knock out Minato or Kushina. The attack had hit Kushina, causing her to hiss in pain.

Minato was able to jump over the attack without losing focus on the hyper beam. As for Sandshrew he charged to attack Minato while in midair. Minato smirked and had his front paws land on Sandshrew's head and jumped over him. Launching the hyper beam at Nuzleaf, the Pokémon screamed and went flying, skidding on the sand a foot or two away from the red haired trainer. Kushina launched the attack at Sandshrew while he had been slammed into the ground by Minato. The attack had finished off Sandshrew. The trainer just stared in shock.

"How did you?"

"Years of practice, plus… you have a long way to go if you hope to beat me, see ya later."

"My name is Gaara… I wish to battle you again…"

"My name is Naruto… we may have a battle one day Gaara…" With that, Naruto called back Minato and Kushina before walking toward his bike and started to ride off while the bike transformed into hover mode.

Yawning, Naruto thought that maybe there would be a hotel here or something… when he had arrived; he could smell the water from the fountains. The city was in the center of the desert but it was a beautiful city full of water. Pretty much everything had water, even the roads, only way across are the bridges.

Smiling, Naruto started to walk on ahead, hoping to get to a Pokémon center to heal Minato and Kushina.

Though, what he hadn't expected to see was the truck from earlier to be here. Frowning, he walked over to the entrance of the city and saw the two men from earlier trying to carry a squirming sack. The sack squirmed around trying to get away from the two men that carried them.

"Help me! Please!" shouted a woman's voice from within the sack. Naruto raised an eyebrow and walked toward the two men, it seemed like they were trying to carry someone off… and, were trying to shut up whoever was in the bag. But, what Naruto couldn't help but notice was the strange voice again…

_"Kill… must… must kill! Must feel blood on my paws! Heeheeheehee!"_

Naruto felt a wave of darkness flowing from the one man, not sure what he could do. Shaking his head, he tried to think on what he could do. "Hey, you two… drop the bag and I won't beat the crap out of you."

The men turned and slowly put the sack down and turned to stare at Naruto. The one stood before the blonde trainer and smirked at him. "I'll fight you… one on one." He laughed like a mad man and threw out a pokéball which brought forth a small purple Pokémon with red leaves atop of its head that had white spots and an orange cylinder in the center.

Naruto knew that this was a Vileplume… and he had its weakness."

Smirking, Naruto sent out Kushina, happy that he had a physic Pokémon with him. Or else he would have been doomed. Narrowing his eyes, the man screamed out "Vileplume, use toxic!"

"Kushina counter with dig then use physic!" Naruto shouted, which had caused Kushina to dig underground and watch as the toxic missed. Vileplume tried to find Kushina, but couldn't find a trace of the Pokémon. Naruto just smirked a little, waiting for the right moment for Kushina to surface.

"Vileplume you stupid Pokémon use sweet scent!" shouted the man as the grass/poison type Pokémon sent out a sweet smelling aroma. It was so sweet and inviting that even Naruto felt accustomed to having it.

"Don't come up yet Kushina!"

Vileplume was getting angry… Naruto knew that this thing had to have problems from having to listen to this guy. "Now!" shouted Naruto as Kushina burst from the ground and hit Vileplume before her eyes glowed blue as she used physic. The Vileplume started to float into the air before Kushina threw her head back causing the Pokémon to sail into the air.

"Finish it with shadow ball!" shouted Naruto as Kushina did just that. Launching a shadow ball into the air as it slammed into Vileplume… once the Pokémon landed, it was out cold. The man cursed and called back his Pokémon and ran off with the other man.

Meanwhile, two people ran to the sack and had tried to open it but couldn't… the teen was cursing to himself for the knot was too tight. Naruto sighed and pulled out a pocket knife and walked over to the sack and cut the rope allowing the mouth of the sack to fall open. Whoever it was stood up and moved the bag from her body and shook her head.

Naruto stood up and helped the woman stand only to stare at her with wide eyes…

The woman, had on a white and blue stripped shirt that clung to her arms, rather than her shoulders… and he could make out white straps to either a muscle shirt or sports bra under the blue and white striped shirt she wore… Her hat was pure white with a red symbol on it… it was a mixture of a pokéball with a swirl in the center instead and a line sticking out of the circle of the pokéball, the hats tip though, sorta bent backward… not sure why though.

She wore tight black pants that clung to her legs perfectly… she wore a skirt over that which was a nice shade of red that brought out some colour to her outfit… Looking down he could make out some black boots that went up to her knees and saw that they also fit her perfectly… Looking up at her face again, he saw that she had bright lavender eyes, and he could make out two locks of blue hair that hung at the sides of her face, shaping it perfectly.

What he had also noticed, were the earrings she wore… for hanging from her earrings were pure white pokéballs with a red line going along the center at the side of the ball… he knew those… they were called Premium Ball's… they were rare for sure though not as rare as a Master Ball. The last things he had noticed was the pair of sunglasses she had hanging from her blue and white striped shirt and what appeared to be the yang part of the symbol… it's white tear shape was like the yin symbol he found in the same, only difference was obviously the colour, the one he found was black and hers was white…

Shaking his head, he looked back up at her eyes not wanting to seem like he was a pervert… (Even if he was one…)

"Thank you for saving me!" said the woman with a bright smile on her face. Though, Naruto didn't know what he could say at all… he wasn't used to speaking to girls that were around his age… Gulping, he looked away… he thought that he could feel his face turning red… Taking a deep breath, he tried to make his voice sound even.

"I was just passing by. Don't get too happy…"

"Where am I?"

"You're in the City of Water right now… or as people like to say the Land of Waves." Naruto calmly said, his voice sounding even yet without a hint of emotion. Gulping, he asked "what were you doing in the first place to get captured."

"I was going home… and saw… wait! Did those men use a strange Pokémon?"

"No."

The boy stood up and stared at the lavender eyed woman as he said "talk to the mayor… I'm sure that he'll be able you." She nodded only to look up at Naruto once more. Naruto though, still couldn't bring himself to stare at her. Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked at the young woman once more before looking away, as for Kurama he snickered a bit.

"Can you come with me? I'm scared that those men will… come after me again."

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair, careful of Kurama so he wouldn't knock the poor guy off of his head.

"Fine, I'll go with you… first, you tell me your name."

"Tell me yours first."

"Fine… my name is Naruto."

The woman giggled softly… Naruto couldn't help but notice that her giggle was cute… he had to shake those thoughts out of his head before he took another deep breath and looked over at her. She smiled a little more as she said "I'm Hinata…"


	3. Truth

_I didn't think my life could get any stranger. I wanted an adventure and find my parents, now, I'm stuck babysitting a girl who tries to prevent me from stealing. Sure, I know stealing is wrong but I can't help it. I was raised by thieves and because of that, I just can't fight the desire. The girl… Hinata right? Yeah, I don't think I could get used to her, the sooner I get her home the better and the better she is off without knowing who I really am…_

_Or, where I was from, and the team I was once with…_

Naruto and Hinata had both decided to stay in a hotel before seeing the mayor… it was a good idea cause of all of the drama that had happened. That, and Naruto wanted sleep since he was worn out from destroying the base yesterday then there was the battling. For some reason, battles always wore him out; he wasn't sure why but maybe if he looked at the papers again…

Yawning, Naruto sat up in bed; he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, the usual routine for him to sleep in.

Sighing softly, the young man ran a hand through his hair hoping to comb his hair a bit to be rid of the bedhead that had appeared on his head. Blinking slowly, he looked over at the side table and started to do some light reading before taking Hinata to the mayor's house. Lifting the papers from the table, Naruto looked at where he left off and started to read from there.

_Naruto has a strange connection to Pokémon's hearts. When he battles with Pokémon, it is as if he can feel whatever they feel. If the Pokémon is moody then so is Naruto, if the Pokémon is in pain, Naruto will reflect that. It is in the mood of the heart, or the hearts state that Naruto will react too. We're not sure, if it is a trait of his family, or just a gift. We're doing more testing, to turn him into the ultimate Pokémon trainer._

_We were going to try to use one of the new Pokémon that Cipher created. We wanted to see just how Naruto would react to the Pokémon, but it hasn't been completed, and feared that Naruto wouldn't be able to be the ultimate trainer. But, what we do know is that Naruto will always be our tool and nothing more. We'll keep capturing Pokémon left and right, Naruto will always be our snagger and we'll have control over all Pokémon and trainers for all time._

Naruto just frowned at all of this information… the Ultimate Trainer? What did they mean by that? And how would using this new kind of Pokémon work in the first place? That didn't make any kind of sense to him at all. Shaking his head, Naruto pushed himself out of bed and walked over to the chair in the far corner to grab his clothes…

Though, soon he heard the door opening and a voice echoing in the room. "Naruto, I was wondering if you were awake and- oh! I'm so sorry!" Hinata said as she had been walking into the room, when Naruto turned to face her he saw that her face was red, and her hands covering her eyes. Rolling his eyes, he walked over to her and gently shoved her out of the room and closed the door.

"Next time, knock." Naruto calmly said before walking away from the door and back to the chair… Sighing softly, he threw on his black pants and tossed on his orange muscle shirt… even with the crisp air that resides in this city, it was still hot even with him being used to the dessert air. After he threw on his shirt, the young blonde haired man grabbed his belt and threw it through the loops of his pants and buckled it up and stared at the two pokéballs on his belt… his two battle partners.

_"Hey, you alright Naruto?" _asked Kurama from his perch on the bed and staring at Naruto with a tilt of his head.

"I'm fine… just have a lot on my mind I guess." Naruto whispered before throwing on his jacket, his gloves, then started to attach the snag machine to his right arm and walked out of his room and saw Hinata in the hall as her index finger and thumb of her left hand touched the pokéball on her left ear… why was she touching that in the first place? That didn't make sense at all.

Kurama jumped from the bed and followed Naruto only to start climbing up his back and stopped at his shoulder. Naruto just raised an eyebrow at Hinata and was about to ask her what she was doing… until he heard voices…

_"I hope Hinata is okay… she hadn't called upon us yet, it has me worried…" _said a girl voice, which only made Naruto wince and pulled his goggles out of his pocket, and down onto his head, not wanting anyone to see his eyes…

_"Please be okay Hinata…" _said another voice, though it too, was a girl voice…

Naruto noticed though, that Hinata wasn't responding to the voices at all… did that mean that the voices were those of Pokémon? Did Hinata have her own Pokémon, if that was the case than why didn't she use them in the first place? He'll have to ask her about that later, though for now he'll just have to worry about other things for the time being… like how to get rid of her.

"Ready to go?" Naruto asked in a soft voice, not really wanting to go anywhere but for now it'll have to do… Yawning, he started to walk on ahead; he would go even if she wasn't ready. It would be fewer things to worry about. Though, when he looked over his shoulder, he saw Hinata following him with a smile on her face. Rolling his eyes, he kept on walking… though his walking slowed a bit as he was in deep thought.

So, his boss was using him for some strange organization… but why that was he still didn't know… it made him think though. All of the strange training came back to him. They had trained him to handle different kinds of pain… different states of Pokémon's emotions… but why? Did it have something to do with being the Ultimate Trainer? It made Naruto wonder a little more. Scratching the back of his head, Naruto tried to think of more reasons of the training but nothing came to mind… and it was making his head hurt.

Once he was sure that the voices of the Pokémon had stopped, he removed his goggles and took a deep breath, looking at the reflection of his goggles he saw that his eyes had returned to normal so for that he felt a little better at the least.

Kurama looked at Naruto and tilted his head. The small Pokémon thought of something that might get his mind out of this funk. Smirking, Kurama hoped off of Naruto's shoulder and down to Hinata, who had walked past Naruto while he was in deep thought… "Awe, aren't you just so adorable!" Hinata squealed a bit as she bent down and picked up the fox Pokémon in her arms and held Kurama as she kept on walking.

_"Pst, Naruto!"_

Naruto tried to ignore Kurama, but it didn't matter… he knew that his eyes had already changed, well the pupils at the least. Looking over at Kurama, he saw that the small Pokémon was now nuzzling Hinata's chest… just what could he be planning right now? There is no way that he would be perverted… there is just no way that he would be doing something like that… would he?

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto glared at Kurama as he tried to tell him to get away from Hinata this instant! Though, the tiny Pokémon just grinned all the more… how could he get the Pokémon to leave Hinata alone without giving his secret away? Naruto looked ready to reach out to grab Kurama from Hinata… but what the he said next just made Naruto freeze.

_"Her chest is just as big and soft as it looks Naruto."_ Kurama said with a perverted grin on his face.

Naruto turned his head to the side as he felt his face go beat red, the heat in his face was a sure sign that he was blushing, though it was much stronger than he thought it should be right now. Though, soon Naruto felt something flowing out of his nose… his upper lip starting to feel sticky as his eyes went wide. Was he having a nose bleed? Quickly, he placed his hand over his nose, hoping to get the blood to stop flowing…

But the thought of what Kurama said… it kept echoing through his mind. And the heat in his face had flown through his whole body.

"You alright Naruto?" asked Hinata as she walked over to him, still holding Kurama in her arms. She didn't seem to notice his eyes so for that he was happy… though when he looked down at his Pokémon, he had gotten a glimpse of her breasts once more, causing him to tightly shut his eyes. "Your face is a little red, please Naruto say something… are you ill?"

_'I'm not ill, I'm just trying to hide this damn nose bleed and your breasts aren't helping any!' _Naruto wanted to yell out at her, but knew that he couldn't… if he even said anything it might only cause a problem and he didn't have time for this. Turning around, he ran to the Pokémon Center and ran into the bathroom that they had in there. Thank god they had a human bathroom… Once he got in there, he looked at his glove and saw that the blood had seeped into it. Great…

Taking off the black glove, he rinsed it under the water, getting all of the blood out of the material… he didn't smell the blood much though… he wasn't sure though since his nose was still plugged up with blood… Setting his glove on the side of the sink, the young man started to splash water on his face, and scrubbing in the hopes of getting the blood off his face and out of his nose.

"Being a man… sucks." Mumbled Naruto as he washed his face, he could faintly hear Kushina and Minato laughing from their pokéballs and knew that they thought this was funny. After he managed to wipe his face clean of the blood, and the water, Naruto took a deep breath as he said "stop it you two or no more treats for a month." Blinking his eyes, he saw that the slits that had once formed from hearing Kurama talking have disappeared, which made him a little happy at the least.

But he knew, that this was still far from over… he still after all had Hinata to bring to the mayor and to bring her home. Though, he was still confused as to why she had been close to kidnapped in the first place. What could have caused it anyway? Why would anyone want to kidnap her besides her looks…?

She was beautiful…

She had a great personality…

And, she had a large bust…

"Shit!" shouted Naruto as more blood dripped down his nose, causing him to go back to washing his face…

Once he was sure that he wouldn't have yet, another nose bleed, Naruto left the bathroom and took a deep breath. He was also thankful that the Snag Machine was water proof. Looking around the center, he saw Hinata sitting in one of the many lounge chairs with Kurama curled up on her lap.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his Pokémon and walked over to the two of them. "Excuse me Hinata, but I need Kurama for a moment." Before he could get her answer, he picked up the small Pokémon by the scruff of his neck and walked outside before lifting him to his eye level. Kurama stared at Naruto with a board stare, as if this was a normal every day sort of thing.

"You're dead. Simple as that, do you know how many times I had to wash my face Kurama? Just what the hell were you planning? What were you trying to pull?"

_"It's simple Naruto, you looked down in the dumps, and I know how much of a perv you are. So I figured that if I could get you to think of something else then you'd be alright."_

"And nuzzling her and telling me what you thought would be funny?"

_"Never said it would be funny, though your mind is off of whatever it was on in the first place."_

Rolling his eyes, Naruto dropped Kurama saying "you can walk on your own. I aint carrying you and neither is Hinata."

_"Come on!"_

"No."

_"Jerk."_

"Better a jerk than a pervert Pokémon!"

"Who's a pervert?"

Blinking, Naruto turned around and stared at Hinata who was standing outside of the Pokémon Center with a raised eyebrow and a frown on her face. Taking a deep breath, Naruto calmed himself down as he said "it's nothing. Let's just go and talk to the mayor alright? I really just want to get this over with. I don't like staying in one place for too long."

Hinata frowned at that, though Naruto had a good idea of what she was thinking. He bet, that she was thinking as to why he didn't want to be here. Even if he had a good reason for it… taking a deep breath, he started to walk on ahead saying "also, don't pick him up, he's being punished." Hinata nodded and followed them, Kurama not too far behind. Naruto was once more, in deep thought as to what he could do… his mind drifting as to why those two men had kidnapped her in the first place.

The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt at the very thought of it.

Shaking his head, Naruto looked up and saw the stairs and looked on over to the left and right. Frowning, Naruto scratched the back of his head wondering where the house was… All of these damn houses looked the same!

"Um… Naruto? I think it's that way…" said Hinata after she tapped Naruto's shoulder.

"What makes you say that?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow at her as he wondered just what made her think, that the house was in the left direction. Though, when he then saw her point to something else, Naruto looked and slapped his forehead… for there was a sign that said 'Mayor's House' and an arrow pointing to the left…

Naruto felt like an idiot.

Shaking his head, he gently took Hinata's hand and started to walk on ahead to the mayor's home. As he walked, he wondered just what the mayor would be like. And, would he be of any help to Hinata in any shape or form? That was something that he had worried about… Taking a deep breath, he kept on walking on ahead with Hinata following him, as was Kurama.

What he hadn't expected, was for someone to come walking out of the building… a tall man dressed in a black cloak with red clouds came walking out, it had confused Naruto greatly, but he said nothing. Though, when he got a better look at the man, he could make out spikey orange hair, his eyes a dark shade of brown and his skin a little pale.

The man turned and stared at Naruto and Hinata for a moment.

"I sense great power from you." Said the man, his face an emotionless mask as he stared at Naruto, soon his face went into a small smile. "We shall meet again, and when we do… we shall battle young trainer." With that, he started to walk away, leaving a confused Naruto and Hinata behind. Raising an eyebrow at that, Naruto just shrugged and walked on inside as he wondered if the mayor could help him, though… it made Naruto wonder all the more, was why that man was here in the first place.

Though, he said nothing.

Once he walked inside with Hinata, Naruto looked around the room, wondering just where this mayor could have been. Only for his eyes to fall onto a man behind a desk bright red, his bangs covering his eyes and he was wearing a strange suit that to him, it looked more like a cloak than anything else.

"May I help you?" asked the man behind the desk.

"Um…"

"Now, now please beautiful lady. Just tell me what is on your mind and I might be able to help." Said the man with a smile and had his hands folded neatly under his chin. Naruto didn't know why, but he wondered why he was having a strange feeling from this guy… it was like a chill flowing up his spine only for it to flow through his body leaving him to shiver.

Hinata took a deep breath and bowed slightly as she said "I saw a strange Pokémon… it attacked people and… I saw something about it that I shouldn't be able too! They panicked and tried to kidnap me! I don't know why but… that Pokémon just didn't seem normal. Please, you have to believe me!" When Hinata lifted her head, Naruto saw the tears threatening to fall her beautiful pale skin… for some reason, it made Naruto's heart ache at the thought of it. But why, why would he feel anything for that girl? And if he did feel anything was it mostly out of pity than anything else?

The man nodded as he said "I believe you… though, I don't know how a Pokémon could just be different. Pokémon only do what their trainers command. Maybe whatever you saw was nothing more than that. Just an illusion."

Kurama shook his head and jumped up onto Naruto's shoulder as he said _"something's up with this guy… you feel it too don't you Naruto?"_

Naruto just nodded, not wanting to draw any attention to himself… though, what he did say was "Kurama, get off my shoulder. You're still being punished for earlier." Kurama sighed and jumped off of Naruto's shoulder and landed next to him. The mayor smiled at Naruto and Kurama, a kind of smile that said something like he knew everything… a lot more than he let on.

Gulping, Naruto turned his head and looked away from the mayor… "Look mayor… we only want some information about what Hinata had seen before I saved her."

"My name is Nagato. Though, I wish to be of more help to you both, I cannot tell you anything…"

Naruto felt like cursing to himself… so this guy didn't know anything after all. Running a hand through his hair, he grabbed Hinata's wrist once more and gently pulled her out of the building, wondering just what could be done… Maybe if they watched a Pokémon battle here at the colosseum that they would feel a little better at the least.

Though, what bothered Naruto was that strange smile of his… the way he stared at him like he knew more than what he let on. It made Naruto think a little bit that maybe, that Nagato knew more than what he let on… he would have to think a little bit on this later. For now, a nice show for the both of them would be enough for him.

Though, before he could even get inside the colosseum, there was a voice along with the sound of footsteps.

"Ah, Naruto… found you at last. And, you seemed to have found a friend…" Naruto wanted to curse, how did they find him? There was no way in hell they should have been able to find him, unless they had something else to use to track him… was there something else? Hm… it couldn't have been the Snag Machine, since he had made sure that there was no tracker on it, least not a working one…

Turning around, Naruto saw two men walking over to them… one, was a man around his age, maybe a couple years older… he had white hair pulled back in a ponytail, glasses, black eyes… and slightly pale skin. His clothes were a purple shirt and grey shorts and of course, black shoes. He was Orochimaru's right hand man… and second in command when the boss was away.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto pulled Hinata to hide behind him… Kurama stood next to Naruto and growled at the white haired man, the other next to him was just a pawn to Kabuto and Orochimaru…

"What do you want?" growled out Naruto, his eyes narrowing and darkening with a blinding fury that was coursing through his body like a torrent of flames. Just what would cause them to come all the way out here just to get him? Or, was it the Snag Machine that they were after?

"Oh, we only want you and that Snag Machine of yours back Naruto. Nothing more… after all, you did piss off Orochimaru."

"Tell him to go fuck himself. The fucking snake won't get anything from me."

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that Naruto… you are to come back, even if it's by force."

Naruto growled, quickly pulled out Minato's pokéball and said "come on out Minato, protect us with screech!" Minato quickly came out of his pokéball and let out a high pitch wail that would normally cause anyone to hear it to scream out in pain. Naruto though, he had learned to deal with any kind of pain, so he just smirked but as quickly as that smirk failed… it had disappeared. No one should be able to resist that attack! No Pokémon and no human!

Kabuto smirked and threw out a pokéball and laughed. "Go Muk!" Out of the pokéball was a strange sludge-like Pokémon that had a hand, big mouth and tired looking eyes. Naruto knew that he would have to switch to Kushina; she was the only one that could beat a poison typed Pokémon with her physic attacks.

"Mean Look." Smirked Kabuto as Muk's eyes started to glow red… Minato screamed and hissed, Naruto wanted to curse, he knew now that he was stuck with Minato. But at least there was one other move that would easily beat Muk… though; this was going to be a challenge in itself. Looking from the corner of his eye, he saw the other man calling forth his Pokémon, bringing out twin Seels. Naruto reached over to call out Kushina to go but there was one thing that surprised him.

Hinata had taken the two pokéballs from her earrings, and pressed the front of them, causing them to grow to the size of normal pokéballs. There was no way… could she really have Pokémon? Hinata grinned and threw the pokéballs into the air calling out "Riolu! Zorua! Come on out and battle!"

The first Pokémon, that looked almost like a dog stood on its hind legs… its feet were black, it had two black tear drop shapes on its head that, like its legs were black along with the mask-like shape around its red eyes. Around its neck was a yellow ring, that almost resembled a collar, there was also black on its chest, his… or her tail swayed in the air only to start stretching its body.

Naruto knew that Riolu… turning over, he saw the next Pokémon that had emerged from the pokéball.

The next Pokémon was like a fox… it had a similar shape to Kurama though its ears weren't as long along with its tail. Though, what Naruto noticed was the colouring was different from others of its kind. It had to be a rare find of Zorua… Its fur was a bit of a dark grey mixed in with brown, the main of fur around its neck was black as night… There was a poof of hair in its head, with a blue tip, which normally should be red. His paws were blue as well, along with its eyelids and the eyebrows. Its red eyes had a hint of a mischief look in them, like it was ready to pull a prank.

Shaking his head, Naruto went back to the battle at hand. He had to think of a way, if he remembered all of Kabuto's Pokémon's attacks than he should be able to win this in moments. But it would take lot of his power in order to beat this thing.

"Muk, use poison gas."

"Minato dig now!"

Minato disappeared in the ground, just in the nick of time too, for the gas had drifted to Minato's place, and wafted through the air for a moment. Naruto had to cover his mouth just to prevent himself from breathing it in. Ugh… the scent of it was horrible that was for sure.

"So, you still speak to your Pokémon in that stupid Pokémon tongue of yours."

"What?"

"Don't you know? When you speak to your Pokémon like you do, you speak in their language… not in ours. It has always confused Orochimaru and myself, but… I think it has something to do with your mother." Kabuto smirked and pushed his glasses with his index finger. Wait what did he say? His power to speak to Pokémon… or even talk in their language… it was because of his mom?

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto growled out "where is she? Who is my mother? My father?" Kabuto just laughed and told Muk to throw in a sludge bomb in the hole. Naruto narrowed his eyes all the more and shouted out "surface and use mud slap!" Minato surfaced and used his tail to kick up the mud that resided in the ground and slapped it into Muk's face.

Muk howled and wiped at his eyes and tried to attack Minato with another sludge bomb.

"Dig again!" shouted Naruto, which had caused Minato to dig underground and attacked Muk again… Naruto could feel Minato's power fueling his every attack… it was as if he really does become one with his Pokémon… it was strange for sure but what he does know… is that it also frightened him greatly.

"Really Naruto that all you got?"

Naruto growled, he had one last attack… he didn't use it much with Minato since with him being a dark type it didn't go well for him. Taking a deep breath Naruto opened his eyes as he called out "Minato, use dig and finally use Synchronoise!"

_"You sure Naruto?"_

"Got no choice Minato." Calmly said Naruto with a sigh, he knew that it weakened Minato, even if it doesn't affect dark-types but it was a bit of a powerful attack for poor Minato… and it always left the both of them worn out for a few days. But at the moment, he had to do this… it was the only thing he could do… Minato nodded before digging in the ground.

"What are you doing Naruto?" asked Kabuto with a raised eyebrow, which only made Naruto smirk all the more. Since Kabuto didn't know most of the attacks he would call out until his Pokémon had used the move.

Naruto just smirked as he said "you'll see for sure." Naruto smirked all the more and closed his eyes. He could sense that Minato was building energy in his body to use the attack. Though, it was hard to build up that much energy in his body. Groaning, Naruto felt like his body would burst at this point, Minato wasn't used to building up so much energy like this… not like he was a physic type before… and now he was building up energy for a physic type attack… and because of that, his body couldn't handle all of this power.

_'Come on Minato… please, hurry up and use the attack…'_ thought out Naruto as he tried to think on what he could do… but it seemed like no matter what he could do his thoughts wouldn't reach Minato, not like their minds were in sync after all…

Suddenly, Minato burst from the ground and his eyes glowed bright blue as waves of physic energy swarmed around Muk, causing the Pokémon to scream out in pain. Naruto knew that this was it… he had to finish this attack. Turning over, he saw that Hinata had just finished up her battle, though her expression was what confused him… she looked like she was in… shock?

Shaking his head, Naruto had to focus on the task at hand… he had to finish off Kabuto before it was too late. "Keep going Minato! Finish off with faint attack!" Minato smirked and faded from sight before slashing across Muk's body before Muk had fainted.

Kabuto cursed and called back his Pokémon and narrowed his eyes as he said "this isn't over Naruto." With that, the two of them had disappeared… or at least had walked away for now. Naruto felt so tired, he didn't think that the attack would have worn him and Minato out so easily… Taking a deep breath, he walked over to Hinata to make sure that she was alright from the battle…

From the looks of it, she won easily…

"You alright Hinata?" asked Naruto with a tilt of his head, his eyes had reverted back from slits to normal pupils. Though the look on Hinata's face was still shocking to him, the look on her face was full of shock and fear… "What's wrong?"

"Are you really from Team Snagem?"


	4. Madness

_I had seen many things when I was part of Team Snagem, I had seen the expressions of people having their Pokémon stolen, and I've seen people smile while playing with their friends, their Pokémon… I had even seen someone angry with their Pokémon._

_But what I hadn't expected was to see the fear I would ever expect when I saw Hinata… when she had found out about my secret, I don't know why she would be so afraid… it wasn't like I was going to steal her Pokémon right? When I stared at her fear filled lavender coloured eyes, I couldn't help but feel something in my heart… I don't know what it was, but what I do know was that it caused my pain…_

"Are you really from Team Snagem Naruto?" asked Hinata with a frown, her eyes sparkling with fear and something else… was it pleading? Was she hoping that he lied saying that he wasn't from Team Snagem? No, he was once a member of that team, he's not anymore… and he knew that but did Hinata? Shaking his head, Naruto looked away from her, unable to look her in the eye… how could he tell someone like her, that he was once a bad guy? Was still a bad guy but wanting to make amends for his sins…

He can't tell her the truth, but… could he also tell her the truth?

Hinata walked over to him and stared at him with sad eyes, he could feel her gaze piercing his soul even without him looking at her. It made Naruto want to run, for the first time, he wants to run just by someone staring at him like that. Gently grabbing her hand, he walked over with Hinata to sit down on the bench…

When he saw Hinata sit down, she had her arms wrapped around her, as if she was unsure of what he was going to do. Not that he couldn't blame her… he, was nothing more than a stranger and because of that he was nothing else to her but someone that had saved her life. That was all he would ever be to her, and he knew that…

Once he had sat down, Naruto looked up at the sky, as if trying to find the words that he wanted to say, but at the same time, couldn't think of anything to say in the least. It was as if the words were stuck in his throat, which made it all the more harder… the lump in his throat, was so large, that he thought that it would make his throat burst. But, at the same time he just couldn't tell her at all.

Sighing softly, Naruto just leaned back, his elbows on the back of the bench, his head hanging over the back while his hands just draped in the air. He just couldn't tell her, he couldn't say anything about his past. He wasn't ready to tell her yet, or ever for that matter. Taking a deep breath, he whispered "you are simply not ready to know the truth Hinata. And, I do not plan to share my past with you. What I will tell you is that I am not with them."

When he turned his head to stare at her, all he saw was Hinata's eyes searching his own blue orbs. As if she was trying to search for the answer from his very soul. Though, that wasn't going to work.

Lifting his head, the young man calmly said "look Hinata, just relax okay? I'm not going to hurt you or do anything to your Pokémon." When he saw Hinata calm down a little bit, he figured that was better than nothing. But still, even when she was calm he could still faintly hear her Pokémon chattering with worry.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself off the bench and stood in front of Hinata. His eyes serious yet, not at all harsh, "okay, we'll do what you want. Whatever you want if it means calming you down. I can't stand how you look at me like that." He knew that it sounded a little harsh, but it was true… he hated when people stared at him with such fear, it bothered him that he was being stared at… it made him wonder just what she could be thinking while staring at him like that.

Though, he was happy to see her smile.

"I wanna do karaoke." Calmly said Hinata with a bright and cheerful smile, her smile was so bright that it made Naruto want to blush; he could feel the blood rushing to his face as she smiled up at him. Looking away, the young man just couldn't bring himself to keep staring at her… Shaking his head, Naruto knew that he had to keep himself calm… maybe he just needs a good drink right now…

Suddenly, Naruto felt Hinata grab his hand and started to pull him toward the Karaoke Bar, great… yup, he'd totally need some booze right about now. Running his free hand through his hair, the young man followed the excited blue haired woman into the bar. This was going to be painful he was sure of…

When he looked up, he saw that it was just a normal bricked building. In neon lights was the word 'Karaoke' as it shined a bright red flashing letters. On the side of the window near the front door, it did mention drinks, either their strong or even weak, they had it. That would be perfect since he did plan on driving. Though, maybe another stay would do him some good after that battle... He saw someone standing by the door, maybe a bouncer or something to make sure that they could get in or not with a driver's licenses.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto walked over to the bulky man and showed him his driver's license. It was better than nothing but at the moment, who cared right? So long as they can get in and Hinata and have some fun, than he was happy. The thought of her being so upset, the thought of her being afraid of him made him worry. Well, feel something stirring in his heart and soul. _'Is it Hinata that's doing that? Making me feel some sort of… unease?'_ He thought to himself, not really sure if it was really her doing that, or if it was something else that was doing that at the moment. Nor, did he really give a damn.

Shaking his head, he gently took Hinata's hand and started to walk on inside. The young man couldn't believe just how well done the room is… there were chairs and tables all around the place, almost like a restaurant. There was a bar to the far corner; he could make out a karaoke machine on the stage that was lit with dim lighting.

He had to admit, it's a nice place.

"So, where are the sign-up sheets?" asked Naruto in confusion, wondering where Hinata would sign herself up if she wanted to do this so damn bad. They both looked around and wondered where Hinata could sign up, though as they wondered around Naruto wondered what he was to do… He kept feeling a sense of dread.

"Naruto, do you mind if I ask what your last name is?"

"Why?"

"I donno, but your face looks familiar to me… so I thought that maybe I've seen you before…"

"My last name is Uzumaki…"

"Hm… Uzumaki… Uzumaki…"

Naruto stared at Hinata for a moment; did she know the name of Uzumaki? If she did than… than maybe she knew where he could look for his parents! Anyone with the last name Uzumaki might know where he came from! He just had to know or this may kill him!

Shaking her head, Hinata walked over to the sigh up sheet that was at the bar, which of course only made Naruto sigh. Maybe she didn't know after all. Running a hand through his hair, he grabbed a seat and had asked for some sake, it was better than nothing.

While he sat down, Naruto looked around the room, wondering why there were so many people here. It was strange to see, unless a lot of people like to come here to see people make fools of themselves. Shaking his head, the young man sighed softly before noticing that his sake had arrived. Raising an eyebrow, he looked around and just shrugged. Sniffing the beverage, Naruto didn't smell anything wrong about it so he just drank it… didn't taste wrong in the least.

When he looked up, Naruto saw that Hinata had been called onto the stage; it made him wonder what she was going to sing. The music started to play, he felt like he could get lost in the music that played into the air. Closing his eyes, Naruto tried to think on how Hinata would sing, what her voice would sound like… though, he highly doubted that she'd sound any good…

_Oh flower that bloomed in the desolated wasteland  
Why are you so...?_

Naruto opened his eyes a crack as he listened to what Hinata sang… she sounded a lot better than he thought she would have… Frowning, Naruto looked up at Hinata, his eyes opened a little further as he saw just how happy she was as she sang. The light shined on her beautiful pale skin, made her lavender coloured eyes sparkle. It was so strange that a simple light made him think of such things. Turning away, he tried to hide the blush that was starting to form on his face. Though, Naruto wasn't sure if it was from the booze or from Hinata singing…

_The warmth of your small fingers are a flame of love  
As much as the wind blows, that flame burns just as bright as it sways_

Naruto knew that he couldn't look back. Thinking that if he looked back that he might have another nose bleed; and that was the last thing that he needed with this… though, Naruto knew that his eyes couldn't stay away from Hinata… he had to keep her safe in case those came back for her, and he knew the risks of losing sight of people.

It could get them killed…

_A blue resonance. The lives that revolve are fleeting lights.  
(Feel my heart)  
For you, who is faraway, I want to grant the miracle you wish for._

Naruto didn't know what more he could do… order himself more drinks? Why not right, they were going to stay another night… And, there was no way that he was going to let Hinata drive his bike. No one drives that bike but him. Not with all the modifications he had done to it, they'd only crash it. Running ah and through his blonde locks, the young man tried to get her singing out of his mind.

_"Come on Naruto; you know that she sings great. Her voice is beautiful."_ said Kurama as he hoped up onto Naruto's head. Naruto just rolled his eyes at the Pokémon and tried to ignore him, though he couldn't deny that Hinata did have a beautiful voice…

_And so we will become a song, just like the millions of stars.  
It's all right to struggle and cry, cry so much that you scream.  
Even if our teardrops dampen the map of tomorrow and we can't see it anymore  
It's all right for the canary that gazes sadly at the rainbow to fly._

Shaking his head, Naruto laid his head on the table, not wanting to keep looking up. He wanted to block out Hinata's angel-like voice. But, damn he couldn't, her voice was just so inviting… he wanted to listen to her all day long… never wanting to stop, it was as if he was drawn to her voice for some reason, he wasn't really sure what it was that caused it, all he did know was that he had to listen.

_The seed that picks smiles somehow flies faraway.  
The voice that passed by my ear was so kind..._

When Naruto looked back up at her, he saw her beautiful sparkling lavender coloured eyes. He felt the blood rushing to his face as he blushed, damn it! He cannot feel anything like that. He had to harden his heart for the time being. He can't feel anything for anyone or they'd be used against him and he knows that. Rubbing his forehead, Naruto tried to stop the blush that was on his face… the necklace that he wore, the one he found he could feel it on his chest, it was cold against his skin…

_The girl turned into bubbles... The boy turned into the final flame...  
The sound of their voices are just too lonely._

Taking a deep breath, he reached into his shirt and pulled out the small tear-like shaped black necklace from his shirt. It was the Yin symbol, he knew that… though, the more he looked at it the more he saw that it was similar to the necklace that Hinata wore… was this hers? He'd have to ask her later… when she was done.

_"The day that we meet in the next world, let's kiss."  
(Missing love)  
Even if just this warmth turns to ashes, I won't give it up._

Tucking the necklace back into his shirt, the young man looked up at Hinata and frowned softly, it looked like she was almost done her song. Then, they could get the hell out of there and he'd be happy to be out of here. This place was starting to smell that was for sure… the strong scent of booze was enough to make him drunk, though that was just in his head.

_That is why determination are strong wings, and they don't need something like fate.  
Cross over, cross over the endlessness. Live from your heart.  
Probably we were in a more certain "now" than the legends.  
The beautiful canary in the cage went higher and higher till it disappeared...  
And so we will become a song, just like the millions of stars.  
Even if you embrace her, your love won't return. It's scattering dried petals.  
The 100 millionth time we are reincarnated, let's bloom on the hill this time.  
The canary that would never come back again smiled in the end..._

Once the song was done, everyone clapped as Hinata bowed a bit. Naruto was thankful for that, thinking that if she bowed any lower that everyone would get a good look at her breasts, he would have to kick some ass just so they could get out of there. Hinata walked off the stage and giggled softly as she sat down with Naruto, as for Kurama, he jumped off of Naruto's head and landed in Hinata's arms.

"Aw, did you miss me Kurama?" asked Hinata as she cooed to the Eevee. Naruto just rolled his eyes and finished his sake as he left some cash on the table, least he didn't have to worry about a hangover in the morning. That is…

"Naruto Uzumaki, come up on stage it's your turn!"

"You didn't…"

"I did."

"Why?"

"I thought that you needed to have some fun. You're just so serious all the time…"

Naruto wanted to punch something but knew that he couldn't get out of this. Sighing, Naruto pushed himself and forced his legs to walk up onto the stage and looked around. Least most of the people were too drunk to be paying attention to him so that was a plus.

As he looked out at the crowd, Naruto saw that some people were passed out at their tables… some were listening to what was happening around them and others were looking up at the stage.

Naruto looked around for the microphone since the music started to play. But it was as if the mic had disappeared. Just where the hell could it have gone? The song was about to hit the lyrics soon, and he didn't have the time to go searching for the song. He lifted his hand, as if he was about to say that he didn't have the microphone, only to have felt something hit his hand. Without thinking, as soon as it had hit his hand, Naruto's fingers had curled around it and knew from the mere shape, that it was a microphone. Taking a deep breath, Naruto started to sing to this song…

_Ah, made of distorted melodies,  
we are creatures worthy of love.  
Even if we can't produce any results,  
our hearts will be singing._

Naruto's voice sounded calm for the most part, though he didn't really like being the center of attention. It was something that had become second nature, like when he was breaking into people's homes and stealing something… or when he was swiping someone's wallet. It was just something he had learned over his life, and now he had never felt so nervous in his entire life.

_Ah, having endured many powerful storms,  
are we creatures worthy of love?  
Even if we can't keep our promise,  
our hearts are still singing._

The song was easy to sing along too, it was as if the song had become a second part of him already. That was strange yes, though he knew that it was something at the very least. Though, it still had him very nervous to sing this song.

_Which door should we knock on and open?  
After we open a door where should we go?  
we won't be able to return all by myself,  
so we've merely been waiting for someone else._

Naruto looked around the crowd; it seemed so strange to see people looking up at him, though those who were looking at him the most were women. And, he could have sworn that he saw hearts in their eyes. He just mentally shrugged that off and went back to singing the song; he wanted to get it over and done with so he can get the hell out of there.

_Who is the person you want to see the most right now?  
The number of people whom you can only talk to in your heart is increasing.  
Therefore,  
you just wanted to become stronger._

Soon, his gaze went to Hinata and Kurama… they both just smiled at him and… he saw Kurama holding out his paw, was that supposed to mean thumbs up or something? He was a strange Pokémon; though then again he was a strange thief so it all fit didn't it? Shaking his head, Naruto tapped his foot to the beat of the song; he was starting to really get into it.

_Ah, I worry about your heart  
because you don't care about other people's news or problems.  
Even the people who were trying to laugh with all their might  
were actually crying their heart out._

Worry eh? The only thing he needed to worry about was Hinata getting kidnapped, the boss trying to steal the snag machine back and him somehow rejoining Team Snagem. All of those things were worries that closed around his heart like an icy cold grip. It was enough to make the young man worry about everything that was happening around him, so much has changed in such a short amount of time… a really, really short amount of time.

_It's okay to cry if the night is scary.  
You just need to welcome morning with a smile.  
No matter how much you are worn out today,  
the remainder of today that you have yet to see will be beautiful._

What's beautiful about this world anyway? Nothing… nothing is beautiful about this place, there is nothing but blood, hurt, pain, torment and suffering. That was all that there was in this world and Naruto knew that. He had grown up in that kind of world that was only full of pain and torment. The love that he should have felt growing up was never there, it was replaced by anger and hatred. Something that he knew all too well.

_Casting doubt over the sun,  
becoming more clouded than the moon,  
we have all been lied to and gotten hurt in the past._

Forget hurting in the past, he was hurt all the time. Naruto ran his hand through his hair once more, not wanting to think about his past anymore. It only made him angry about it. So much has happened already; he had to start thinking about his future that was something that he would know he would have to learn about…

_Casting doubt over the sun,  
becoming more clouded than the moon,  
we have also told lies and made others get hurt, haven't we?_

Naruto closed his eyes, not wanting to see it all of those memories flashing before his eyes. Though no matter what, he knew that those memories would forever flash before his mind's eye no matter how much time goes by, he would never break free for that ever… Tilting his head back up to look up at the ceiling, he wondered what he was to do now… nothing came to him, he knew that he could ever escape his past.

_Who is the person I want to see the most right now?  
If the number of people whom I can only talk to in my heart  
keeps on increasing,  
will I no longer be able to live on?_

The person… no, the people he wanted to see the most was his parents. He had to know who they were, or if they were looking for him, or if they even cared about him in the least. If had Naruto thinking of many questions that he wanted to ask them if he ever met them. Naruto almost wanted to cry at the thought of his questions going unanswered. Though, he knew that he shouldn't be crying right now, he had to focus on something else… he had to hurry up and finish this song before anything stupid happens.

_We haven't read enough of our tale yet.  
We know that we can't force the story to end prematurely  
because all of us, while staying true to ourselves,  
wanted to become stronger._

Naruto did want to be stronger, but he knew that he was strong already, but was it enough to keep going on this journey? Maybe, he wasn't really sure. Though what he did know was that until he got Hinata home he would have to keep her safe and he'd do whatever he could just to make sure that she would stay safe.

_We just wanted to become stronger._

Once the song was done, Naruto set the microphone on the table, got off the stage, gently wrapped his hand around Hinata's wrist and walked out of the bar with her. He had to get out of there before people surrounded him. He hated staying in one place for too long. As they walked out of the bar, he said "why did you sign me up for that Hinata? I don't like being the center of attention."

"I didn't know… I just thought that you could use some fun Naru-kun."

"Don't call me that. Just call me Naruto understand?"

Damn it, she was just too innocent for her own good. Why did he have to save someone who was just so damn innocent? Shaking his head, he said "next time you want to sign me up for something, just ask me alright. I don't like standing in front of people, I hate people staring at me like that. Looking down at Hinata, he said "I have my reasons Hinata, just… don't do that again alright?"

Hinata just nodded and sighed softly before setting down Kurama… Or, well Kurama mostly just jumped out of her arms and sighed softly. Naruto knew that he was being harsh right now but that can't be helped he felt like his nerves were on fire with this feeling of dread. It was such a strange thing for his nerves to feel like this… Only then, for that weird feeling he had felt yesterday to appear once more. It was that dark feeling coursing through him… did that mean that… that Pokémon was near?

"Well, well, well… look what we have here Kakuzu."

Shaking his head, Naruto turned away from Hinata and stared at a two men. Both wearing cloaks and straw hats with strips of cloth dangling from the rim of the hat covering their faces. Their cloaks were black with red clouds on them. It made Naruto wonder what they could want.

"Yeah, it's the girl we were trying to capture… we have to take down this guy first Hidan."

"You had your change Kakuzu, it's my turn. I want to try out my friend on this guy's Pokémon. I want to turn his Pokémon into mints meat." Said one of the men as he walked toward Naruto and Hinata, Naruto had narrowed his eyes into slits as the man smirked at Naruto through the small opening of the cloth. "Your Pokémon will die Blondie… there is nothing that you can do to stop me."

"Bull shit. I'm the best trainer than you can ever be! I'll kick your ass!" shouted Naruto as he reached for his belt and pulled out his pokéball and called forth Minato. Minato appeared in a burst of white light as he growled at the cloaked man known as Hidan. There was no way that they were going to lose to these guys. Not ever.

The man called out a growlith, something Naruto remembered from the restaurant that he was at the other day. Wasn't much of a battle but at least it was a start. Naruto though, wanted to battle that strange Pokémon that Hidan had, the one with the strange dark presents and wishes to hurt the innocent. That was something he wanted to see, though he wasn't sure if he'd be sure he'd be able to handle such a dark being.

"Minato, dig!"

_"You got it Naruto!"_

"Growlith, use flamethrower into the hole!"

"Minato, surface and use Iron Tail, then follow up with Bite!"

The Flamethrower had been called forth into the hole when Hidan had called for it. Naruto knew that if that had hit Minato it would have really hurt his tail and jeez, he didn't need the dark Pokémon to complain day in and day out. Not like last time, he had to deal with that for a month until the burning had stopped.

When Minato had surfaced, Naruto saw the glow of his tail, showing that Minato was using his Iron Tail. The attack made contact, as soon as that had happened; Minato had twisted his body and bit down on growlith's neck. Growlith growled and bit deeply into Minato's leg.

Minato howled out in pain, causing growlith to use its Flamethrower on Minato once again. Minato screamed and was kicked in the stomach by growlith. Naruto hissed, feeling a small bit of Minato's pain. "Naruto, are you alright?" asked Hinata with concern, her only answer was a nod from the blonde haired man.

"Minato come back!" shouted Naruto as he held out Minato's pokéball as a beam of red light encased Minato's body as it brought him back. Shaking his head Naruto doesn't like using Kushina so much but he had no choice. "Come on out Kushina!" shouted Naruto as the psychic Pokémon emerged from her pokéball. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he said "use psychic, show 'em who's boss Kushina!"

Kushina smirked as her eyes started to glow, lifting the fire-type Pokémon into the air and throwing it into the ground. Not enough to hurt it, but enough to knock it out. Growlith hissed from the attack, Hidan commanded it to use bite, though Kushina was swift, and cunning as she had used her psychic again on growlith and again. Growlith groaned and just lied there on the ground, badly bruised more than anything.

Hidan cursed and called back Growlith and smirked. "You've never met a Pokémon like mine…" Soon, he held out another pokéball and called forth a Pokémon Naruto remembered from training. It was a tall Pokémon that stood on all fours. Its face was black as well was a strange blade stuck out of its head. On its paws were little claws that were the shapes of diamonds but were black like its face and the blade, when he looked back up, Naruto saw its tail was also, blade-like, though not curved like the blade on its head. Even though it was a dark type Pokémon, its fur was white as snow, from what he's seen most dark-type normally don't have white… least the ones he remember.

Though, what Naruto hadn't expected was to see its sick and evil grin. Hinata gasped as she said "that's it Naruto! That Pokémon was the reason why they captured me! I could see a strange cloud of black aura around them!" Naruto wondered if what she was seeing, and what he was feeling was connected to something… He could easily sense the darkness in this Pokémon… though, there was something missing from it. There was no way that this Pokémon was like this because of how it was trained.

"Kushina, we're going to have to be careful. You're psychic attacks won't work."

_"I know Naruto… I still have Dig… but would that be enough?"_

"No… unless you can do Hyper Beam like Minato."

They both nodded, knowing that they would have to make do with some of the attacks they had… Unless… "Kushina! Dig and use multiple Shadow Ball!" Kushina nodded, knowing the plan and dug into the ground multiple times, making many holes around the Absol. Naruto knew that this was a good way to distract it, enough so that he could capture it. Maybe he could learn why it was like that… or if there were others like it.

Hidan smirked as he said "Absol, use Shadow Rush on that girl!" Naruto's eyes went wide, what the hell was Shadow Rush? The Absol charged through the battle field and its paw was glowing black with a strange shadow-like light forming around it. Naruto had to act quickly or Hinata would get hurt.

"Kushina, use Protect around Hinata NOW!"

Hinata let out a scream as she held up her arms hoping to shield herself… though the attack never came. When she moved her arms, there was a ball of blue light around her which made her sigh in relief. Naruto smiled softly a bit, happy that she was safe. Narrowing his eyes on Hidan, he said "Kushina, finish our plan!" Kushina nodded and jumped through the one hole, an orb of gold light started to form into Kushina's mouth. The attack launched toward the Absol while it was distracted.

"Absol behind you!" shouted Hidan, only for the attack to have made a direct hit. Naruto grabbed an empty pokéball and charged it up. It's been a while since he captured Pokémon but he was still the master of it. The pokéball was charging up in his right hand thanks to the charges of the Snag Machine. Naruto knew that Hinata would hate that he stole this guy's Pokémon but he knew that right now, he didn't have a choice.

Once the pokéball had been turned into a Snag Ball, Naruto threw it at Absol and stared at the ball as it shook. It shook three times until it showed signs that Naruto had captured it. Though, as soon as the ball had stopped moving, Naruto felt something wrong… He felt something like a jolt through his heart, and felt like his heart had just disappeared from his chest. Naruto felt pain shooting through his body.

Hinata covered her mouth in shock as she saw the same black cloud of aura that had surrounded the Absol was now starting to surround Naruto. She could faintly make out his nails growing into claws. His hair looking a little wilder… Naruto turned to stare at Hinata for a moment that was when she saw that his usual blue eyes were crimson with slits, and saw that he had grown fangs. He growled at her though turned away. His arms lifted as his body shook in pain. Only for him to grip his head and scream as the cloud got darker around him.

"Naruto!" shouted Hinata.

Kurama ran to Naruto and jumped up on his leg hoping to snap him out of it. Only for Naruto to look down at him and kick Kurama away from him, soon, his gaze went to Hidan and smirked. "Kushina, attack that guy with Psybeam!" Kushina looked up at Naruto as if he had gone crazy. "Attack you stupid bitch!" shouted Naruto.

She only shook her head; Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked ready to attack her. Only for him to feel someone wrapping their arms around him, growling Naruto turned his head and saw Hinata. He shoved her away from him as he said "don't touch me!" He growled at her, looking ready to strike her with his newly grown claws. Hinata just wrapped her arms around Naruto again as she begged, pleaded for him to return to normal.

"Naruto, please stop this! You wouldn't hurt your Pokémon! You wouldn't hurt people like that! Please!" Naruto looked ready to strike once more, only for his eyes to widen in shock as he felt something flowing into his body. Almost as if, a strange energy was shoving out the darkness that had surrounded his heart just moments ago. His claws had started to shrink down… as did his fangs. Naruto felt like his legs couldn't hold him up anymore. He fell over on Hinata for a moment, her body supporting him… Naruto looked so weak, his eyes dull as if he had no soul within his body. Though, what really was happening was that Naruto was in a state of shock… he was aware of what he had tried to do to his Pokémon, and to that Hidan fellow. Kurama groaned and picked up the pokéball that held Absol to Naruto.

The only thing that had gone through his mind was this… _'What happened to me?'_


	5. Side Effects

_I didn't know what was wrong with Naruto… when I saw that strange dark aura around him; it was as if it was trying to consume him. To control his heart, mind and soul. It was like he wasn't even himself anymore. After the battle, it seemed like Naruto had lost all of his strength, it was like he couldn't even hold himself up, like he was gravely ill. What did that strange Pokémon do to him? _

Hinata grunted, it was hard to keep Naruto standing up straight. It was like the machine on his arm had added to his natural weight. Shaking her head, the young woman took a deep breath, shifted Naruto's weight on her back and shoulders. Naruto's left arm hung over her shoulders, his head leaned into her shoulder. His right arm hung limply at his side, his head bent downward as they walked. Hinata couldn't help but notice that his skin was pale, and he had dark circles under his eyes.

Why did he look like he hadn't had a decent amount of sleep for days?

Shaking her head, the young woman pushed herself to the hotel. Hoping that she would be able to get Naruto to a bed so he could rest. But, even now that seems impossible, he was just so heavy that she had almost tripped over her own feet. Looking at Naruto from the corner of her eye, she saw that he looked like he was covered in sweat. Why? What was wrong with him?

Giving a sad smile, Hinata kept on pushing herself forward. "Don't worry Naruto, you'll feel better. I'm sure you will." She said with determination. Only to trip and fall on the ground. Whimpering, she lifted her head, thinking _'this is so unfair right now…'_

Pushing herself back onto her feet, Hinata ignored her discomfort and kept on pushing herself after readjusting Naruto. She knew that this was going to be difficult but if he was to get better, she needed to get him to a place that was cool enough for him to relax. Looking down, she saw Kurama, Naruto's eevee looking up at her with sad and worried eyes. She knew that he was concerned for Naruto, though as she stared at the small Pokémon, she noticed that Kurama had a pokéball in his mouth. Was it with that strange dark Pokémon that she saw?

Shaking her head, the young woman whispered "let's go Kurama, I have to get Naruto to lie down…" she gave him a soft smile before walking with the Pokémon and headed toward the hotel. She couldn't help but keep pushing herself. As she walked Hinata couldn't help but notice that the blonde haired man's skin was pale… almost white as a sheet. Under his eyes were dark circles like he hadn't had a decent amount of sleep in days.

Staring at him with worry and concern, Hinata wondered if he would feel better… and she wondered what had caused him this kind of discomfort or illness. Just why was he in this kind of shape in the first place?

Was it something that the strange absol did to him? Hm… it had her ponder about this all the more. What could it do that would make Naruto this sick in the first place? She'd have to ask him when he woke up. Taking a deep breath, Hinata looked up at the hotel and gave a bright smile. Maybe if she was lucky than they were still written down in their book…

Once she had checked herself and Naruto back in, the man behind the desk asked what had happened. Hinata had to come up with a lie and fast. Giving a small smile, she said "he's been sick for a while but was hiding it… I guess his body couldn't take it anymore and just passed out."

"Would you like some help miss?"

"Oh no thank you." She said with a soft smile before walking back to the rooms that Naruto had saved for the both of them. As she walked toward the rooms, she couldn't help but think about what that one man had told her…

_"You think you know him girl? You don't know anything about him. Naruto isn't some hero; he's a criminal like the rest of us. He's our top Snagger, one day girl he'll leave and sell you for your powers."_

How he knew about her powers, she'll never know. But what she does know is that Naruto isn't a bad guy. He saved her, he didn't have too yet he did. Hinata couldn't help but smile at the thought. Taking a deep breath, she walked into Naruto's room and lied him down on the bed. Staring at him, the young woman started to remove the strange machine on his arm, being careful not to tear his jacket.

Staring at him, Hinata frowned for a moment… Naruto looked like he was in pain. Grabbing her earrings, she called out her two Pokémon and stared at them with a serious expression. "Riolu, you get a bucket of cold water and a wash cloth please. "Zorua, I need you to help me get the clothes off of Naruto so he can cool down a bit. Can you shift into a person?" Zorua giggled before flipping through the air. Its body glowed bright blue before landing on the floor as Hinata. Sometimes, the young woman found it a little weird just how much Zorua could look just like her. Only thing is that he still couldn't talk. Shaking her head, Hinata got Zorua to lift Naruto up enough for him to sit up in bed.

"Naruto, I know you're very weak but I need you to lift your arms." She said as she removed his jacket. It was a little hard for it to come off with it being so long, and him sitting on it.

Naruto didn't look like he was going to comply with what she had asked. Though, before she knew it his arms started to lift from his sides. Though, his arms were shaking wildly… it was as if he didn't have any strength left in him… did the battle drain him that badly?

"It's okay Naruto…" she whispered gently after she removed his shades and his shirt. Hinata was amazed that he was responding to her, his eyes were still shut and his breathing was deep and rapid. This was already wearing him out… Once his shirt was off, Hinata had Zorua lie Naruto back down on his back, and she walked down to the end of the bed to remove his boots. Sighing softly, Hinata never knew that Naruto could handle all of this weight. The machine on his arm had to weigh fifty pounds, his boots were heavy too.

Zorua walked over to Hinata and tilted his… her… its head as if asking what else was needed to be done for the both of them. "Hold his waist up, I need to…" She gulped as she added "to take his pants off. I hope he's wearing boxers." She rubbed her forehead and waited for Zorua to lift Naruto's waist. Once he was off the bed enough, the young woman removed his pants, and was thankful, he wore some boxers! Though, it made her wonder just how he was able to not yell at her for stripping him down…

Shaking her head, Hinata pulled a thin sheet over his body and gave him a soft smile. Looking over to her side, the young blue haired woman saw Riolu coming back with a bucket of cold water and a wash cloth hanging from the side of the bucket. She couldn't help but smile, least there was a way to cool Naruto down.

Soaking the cloth in the cold water, Hinata gently started to dab at his face. She wondered if it would help him to relax… to help him cool down. Sighing softly, Hinata stared at Naruto's sleeping face as she whispered "what happened to you Naruto?" She didn't expect an answer from him; all she knew was that he might be asleep for a while. Looking over, she saw Kurama looking up at Hinata with a sad look in his eyes. She smiled at him as she whispered "don't worry Kurama; I'm sure that he'll be okay. Naruto just needs rest." Patting his head gently, Hinata went back to dabbing his face.

There was no telling how long she had kept that up for, only knew that after a little while, Hinata left the cold cloth on his forehead after wiping his face and his chest of the sweat that had covered his body like a blanket.

Just as she was about to get up, Hinata felt something wrap around her arm. Frowning, she looked down and saw Naruto's unfocused eyes on her. His lips moving as if he was trying to say something, but the sound of his words wouldn't come out to him… Leaning closer she asked "what is it you want to tell me Naruto?"

He blinked for a moment and frowned. Was he really awake or was his body moving on its own?

Suddenly, Naruto pushed himself up and sat up on the bed. Hinata rushed trying to get him to lie back down. But… something had stopped her. Naruto pulled on Hinata's arm as she was pulled into his arms. Naruto had a big goofy grin on his face before planting his lips over hers. Her eyes were wide with shock, this couldn't be happening! Why was he kissing her? Before she knew it, Naruto fell back down on the bed and had gone back to sleep…

Placing a hand over her lips, she whispered "he… he stole my first kiss…" She didn't know what more to say. Only that Naruto, a man that had saved her life had stolen her first kiss. Something that she had never expected to see…. Her eyes were wide and shining with confusion… her face as red as a rose, wondering if he did that of his own will, or if it was the fever that did that to him.

Groaning, Naruto slowly started to open his eyes. Blinking slowly, the young man wondered why he felt like crap. He tried to remember what had happened after the battle with that strange absol. All he could remember was feeling… cold. He felt like he was someone else, like he didn't even know who he was anymore. After that, he blacked out…

Shaking his head, Naruto pushed himself up, only to feel something fall off of his head. Frowning, he looked down at his lap and saw a dried up wash cloth. Tilting his head, the young man looked around the room, wondering how he had gotten back to the hotel…

There was no way that he could have walked all the way here…

_"Naruto you're awake!"_ shouted Kurama's voice as he hoped up onto the bed and stared at his friend with a big smile.

"Kurama, what happened?"

_"Hinata brought you to the hotel and took care of you. She just left an hour ago; she had been up all night looking after you. She was worried sick about you, ya know…"_

Naruto frowned in shock and confusion. Hinata took care of him? Why would she take care of him when he was nothing more than a stranger? Shaking his head, Naruto pushed himself out of bed and frowned as he said "why am I in my boxers?" Shaking his head again, the young man grabbed his pants and shirt as he pulled those on. He knew that he would have to ask Hinata why she helped him… it didn't make sense to him in the least. No one had ever helped him before…

It was strange to… to enjoy the feeling of being looked after. Shaking his head, the young man sighed softly and gently knocked on her door wondering if she was awake or even getting ready. Frowning when he didn't get an answer, Naruto slowly opened the door and stared at her in surprise. Hinata had tossed her boots across the room. She lied on her bed, her hat gone and resting on the nightstand next to her bed.

Naruto blushed softly when he saw her hair sprawled on the pillow like beautiful blue wisps. He had thought that she had short hair… but, her hair was tucked into her hat… It had to reach her lower back. Naruto couldn't help but blush at the sight… she looked better with long hair.

Blushing darker, the young man shook his head, knowing that he should leave. It might be better for the woman to sleep. Taking a deep breath, Naruto walked back to his room and just sat on the bed for now. He had to think…

Rubbing his forehead, the Snagger knew that he would have to think about what had happened. When he captured the absol, it was as if it had become one with his heart. Like the rest of his Pokémon. Though, with that absol it was different… It was as if that Pokémon didn't have a heart. He hadn't sense it, no more like he couldn't sense it… What had happened to that Pokémon in the first place to have caused it to be like this?

Looking over at the nightstand, Naruto could see the pokéball that held absol. Sighing softly, he knew that he would have to control it at some point.

But would he be able to handle it in the least?

Shaking his head, the young man took a deep breath and picked up the pokéball, only to gasp out in pain. His eyes turning red and blue in the pulse of his heart beating. Naruto quickly dropped the pokéball, not wanting to hold onto that anymore.

Kurama frowned and tilted his head at Naruto. _"Naruto, something is wrong with that Pokémon that is for sure. But you'll never know what had happened to it unless you talk to it."_

"Don't you remember what happened when I caught it? I was controlled like it was! My heart… it… I don't know, it was like I had lost my heart." Naruto buried his face in his hands as he took a deep breath, hoping to calm himself down. He couldn't… he couldn't risk that again. Even now, he still felt sick from his heart being consumed by that strange darkness.

_"Naruto, you can talk to Pokémon for a reason. Can sense their hearts, and feel their pain and emotions for a reason. This could be the reason why you have these gifts. Talk to absol and learn what had happened to it… just do it."_

Naruto sighed, maybe he was right. It was best to listen to what the Pokémon had to say before just… letting his own fear of being consumed by darkness to cloud his judgement. Taking a deep breath the young man picked up the pokéball and felt a shock flow through his arm. Gritting his teeth in pain, Naruto tossed the pokéball as he called out for absol to join them.

Big mistake.

As soon as absol was freed from its pokéball, it attacked Naruto. Naruto yelped and held out his arms to hold the Pokémon back. "Wait! I just want to talk to you!" said Naruto, hoping that he could hold back this dark energy that he could feel trying to circle around his heart.

_"No talk! Kill!"_

"Please, I want to help you! I have to know what did this to you! I might be able to return you to normal… just trust me."

Absol didn't look like he wanted to trust Naruto in the least. But he backed off for the time being… Though, Naruto could sense that he wanted to attack again but was fighting hard to keep himself in check. He could also sense, that he wanted to be normal again. Taking a deep breath, Naruto asked "what did this to you? Was it those men?"

_"no… it…"_ Absol looked like he was having trouble thinking of the right words. Was this part of whatever happened to him? That they couldn't think straight and only fight like machines? Frowning, Naruto just sat on the bed, waiting for absol to speak… _"Was in… machine. Built by… crazy doctor. Don't… remember much… called us… Shadow Pokémon."_

Shadow Pokémon? Hm… why did that sound familiar? Maybe he had skimmed through it or something… He didn't remember. Shaking his head, the young man stared at the shaking absol for a moment, wondering if the reason why he couldn't sense its heart was because of this strange darkness that was clouding it… "Is there anything else you remember absol?" When he saw absol shake his head, Naruto pushed himself up which had caused the shaking Pokémon to back up in fear, ready for a battle.

_"Are… you new master?"/i_ asked absol, his blade-like tail twitching with anticipation. Naruto nodded before reaching for the pokéball that Kurama had retrieved for him. He could tell that absol was nervous, that was at least a good sign that he could still feel something. That was a very good sign. Whatever had caused this… maybe it was weakening somehow. He wasn't really sure… _"Are we to kill? Are you to use me… as a tool?"_

"No, I'm not someone that uses Pokémon as tools of destruction. I am to not only be your new master, but your friend." Naruto said with a soft smile before returning absol into the pokéball. He saw absol become engulfed in a bright red light and watched as he vanished into the pokéball.

"Can… can you understand Pokémon Naruto?"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he turned around and saw Hinata. Had she been watching the whole time? Turning away, he sighed softly. "So what if I can? What are you going to do about it?" he said with a bit of a growl. Still feeling the lingering effects of absol's darkness around his heart, he didn't mean to growl but the darkness was something he couldn't control.

"I would say that it's neat."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock at hearing that. Turning to stare at her, he said "you find that neat?" Seeing her nod, Naruto frowned and tilted his head as he pushed himself up onto his bare feet. "What makes you think that I can understand Pokémon in the least? Maybe I'm just talking to myself."

Hinata held up her hand as she started to count down on her fingers. "First of all, you sound like you really understand the situation when no one else does. Second of all, you always sound so sincere when you talk to your Pokémon and you speak in their language and they understand you as well. And thirdly… your pupils always turn into slits when you speak to your Pokémon."

Naruto frowned, she noticed all of that? Damn it… he had tried so hard to keep that a secret! Looking at Hinata for a moment, he calmly said "why do you find this so 'neat'?" Hinata just gave him a bright smile… that had made Naruto blush softly. He turned away, not able to look her in the eye anymore.

"I find it neat… because I want to talk to Pokémon but cannot…"

"You don't want to learn to talk to Pokémon. Sometimes it can get annoying and painful. I sometimes wish for silence but that never happened for me." Naruto grabbed his jacket and threw it on then started to put on his boots. This was going to be a long day.

"What else can you do with Pokémon besides talk to them?"

"I feel what the feel."

"Really? What else?"

"My heart is connected to the Pokémon that I have. When I capture a new Pokémon, my heart becomes one with it. It's hard to explain really, I don't understand it myself. I don't even know if this gift is just that, a gift or something I inherited."

"Can't you ask your parents?"

"I don't know who they are. Never knew them."

Hinata went silent. Naruto figured that she felt sorry for him; she had parents while he was alone. It didn't bother him and he knew that. Looking over at her once more, he noticed that she had put her hat back on, her beautifully long hair tucked back in with only two locks hanging from the sides of her head. Blushing softly, he whispered "you should keep your hair down… it suits you better." With that, he started to head out of the room.

Naruto walked around the city with Hinata, his body still very weak though but at least he could still stand on his own two feet. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Hinata walking behind him with Kurama in her arms. At least Kurama wasn't acting like a pervert. That was the last thing that he needed. Hell, his gloves still need to be cleaned from when he had that nosebleed.

Shaking his head, Naruto kept on walking; maybe he could find that pre-gym he heard about. There might be a chance for him to see if he can help absol with this shadow in his heart. Running a hand through his hair, the young man looked up and saw a building. This was it…

He walked down the stairs, since the building was in a hole… least in a sense it was. Laughing to himself, he walked into the building, the doors opening on their own. "What is this place?" asked Hinata from behind.

"It's the pre-gym, never been in here but I thought that maybe it could be a good chance to test out absol. Maybe it'll help him." Naruto calmly explained, though he knew that he would have to find the owner of the gym so he can get over this problem at hand… the sooner he helps absol, the better it is for him.

"Hello, you must be new here." Said a new voice.

Naruto turned his head and stared at a tall man, brown hair pulled back in a spiky ponytail. His skin was tanned; possibly his natural skin colour or he was out in the sun all the time. Naruto also noticed a scar across his nose. His clothes were a simple green t-shirt and black shorts. Possibly to handle the heat in the city…

"Hello, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and this is Hinata Hyuuga." Calmly said Naruto with a slight bow.

"Hello Naruto, Hinata… My name is Iruka Umino. And I am the owner of the Pre-Gym."


	6. Control

_I knew that this was going to happen at some point. I have to learn to battle with these 'Shadow Pokémon' even if it hurts me. But, sadly for me that doesn't sound as easy as it seemed. For, trying to train a Shadow Pokémon was much, much harder than people would think even if they've never heard of them before. As soon as I was done getting through this day, the better it would be for me. But, that was only one of my few problems…_

"So, what brings you both here?" asked Iruka with a bright smile on his face. Maybe he knew that they weren't from around here since from what Naruto could gather about this place was that it was mostly the citizens that came to this place.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto calmly said "I'd like to train here if I can. I just got a new Pokémon recently and… I'm having some troubles with it." He didn't want to make it sound like he hated the Pokémon, but it might have sounded like that to some people. But, this was his only chance to try to get over the strange darkness that covered the Pokémon like a wet blanket.

"Hm… well, I don't see the harm in training here. I'll have one of my students battle you. Maybe you could teach him a thing or two about battle." Calmly said Iruka with a smile before he started to walk away from them. Naruto frowned a little bit, why was he going over there when he saw a classroom just on the other side of the room… It didn't make any kind of sense to the young man, though what he did know was that this guy was strange…

_'And I thought I was strange, and I talk to Pokémon for crying out loud.' _thought Naruto with a bland stare.

When Iruka got to a computer panel, he held onto a microphone and said something that confused Naruto all the more. "Konohamaru please come up here. I got someone that will train with you." Naruto wondered who this Konohamaru was, but he had a feeling that he might be in for a good battle. Or, least he was hoping so since most students are pretty good from what he had heard about Iruka's teachings. Suddenly, the sound of an engine was heard, or… least that's what Naruto thought it was.

When he turned his head to the left, the strange pokéball shape on the floor lifted, revealing glass doors and someone within. The doors slowly opened and the boy started to walk out, not looking any older than twelve possibly. His brown hair was long though defied gravity by sticking up in spikes. Tied around his head was a black headband with a red pokéball symbol on the center. His shirt was white with a strange green leaf on it with a swirl in the center. It kind of reminded Naruto of the symbol on Hinata's hat but without the pokéball on it… As for his pants, they kind of had camouflage patterns on it, the pants reached just a little past his knees. As for his sneakers, they were just simple blue runners. Nothing really special about them in the first place.

"So Iruka-sensie? Who am I battling? I can take on anyone! Nothing can save them from the awesome skills of Konohamaru Sarutobi!" said the boy with a smirk; Naruto could easily tell that this kid was full of himself that was for sure.

"Konohamaru, you're battling Naruto. He wants to train with his Absol and you're the only one that isn't busy." Said Iruka with a bit of a nervous smile, maybe he knew that Konohamaru was full of himself too and went a little too far about his 'skills'. Konohamaru looked up at Naruto and just rolled his eyes as if saying that Naruto could never win in a million years.

_"Naruto, you sure you wanna fight some snot nosed kid?"_

Naruto glared at Kurama, as if telling him that it was a stupid question. Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked over at Konohamaru as he said "I hope that this battle is… interesting." Naruto tried to think of a word that wouldn't sound like he knew that he was going to win, but with a Pokémon he just caught there was no telling what could happen when this Pokémon, Absol didn't seem like the kind of Pokémon that would listen to him.

Looking over at the arena, Naruto figured that this battle wouldn't be so long. But, he knew that he had to at least tell Iruka of some problems that might arise. "Iruka… I'd like to tell you something. The Absol I have… well… You may not believe me but his heart has been closed off. He'll hurt people so… if I may, may I have my Espeon out so prevent Absol from hurting anyone if it comes to that?"

Iruka crossed his arms, though his left hand under his chin as if trying to process the words that Naruto had just said. The young blonde thought that Iruka would think he was crazy, not that he could blame him. Turning his head to Hinata, he saw that she had thought the same thing, that Iruka wouldn't believe him.

"It's true Iruka-san, Naruto protected me from Absol so it wouldn't hurt me." Said Hinata, her voice having a small pleading sound to it, as if she was begging him to believe her.

"It does explain some of the mysterious attacks on other trainers."

Naruto almost fell over, he believed them!? Holy crap that was something he never expected to happen in the least. Coughing into his fist, Naruto tried to get his nerves to relax a bit, the thought of being called 'crazy' had his nerves shot. Least from the suspense though now he could relax for the time being. He knew what the risks was in using Absol… there was a slight possibility that he may go insane again but… to learn to control it was worth that risk.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked at Hinata as he said "have your Pokémon out too, if I go crazy have them knock me out." Hinata just nodded, her eyes showing sadness within their depths. He knew that she was worried like he was… but some things were worth the risk, and Hinata getting hurt was something he didn't want… least not before he could take her home. After she was home, he would be on his own.

Closing his eyes, Naruto tried to focus on his positive emotions; maybe if he could do that, he wouldn't have such a hard time controlling the shadows from Absol. Last time, Naruto had been feeling nothing but anger towards that guy for threatening to take Hinata after he was down… for threatening to kill his Pokémon. He was going to make sure that nothing happens to either of them, and that was a promise. "What's the matter old man? Trying to think if you even have a slight chance of winning?" taunted Konohamaru.

Naruto just stared at the brown haired teen, trying to keep his cool for the time being. Though, he could faintly feel the anger bubbling… "A one on one battle." Naruto calmly said, not really wanting to overpower his new Pokémon with only him fighting other random Pokémon which, of course is the last thing that he needed right now.

Konohamaru smirked as he said "sure, one on one. What are you going to fight me with? That stupid Eevee?"

_"Let me at him Naruto! Let me at him! I'll claw his eyes out!"_ shouted Kurama as he charged at Konohamaru only to be held back by Naruto who, just so happened to have grabbed the scruff of his neck. Naruto just shook his head before handing the angry Pokémon to Hinata, telling her to have a good grip on him so he wouldn't jump out of her arms.

Looking over at the kid again, Naruto reached over to his belt and pulled out his pokéball, he wasn't sure if it would work… if he would be able to control himself but it wouldn't hurt to try would it… no, no it wouldn't. It was now it never! "Come on out Absol!" shouted Naruto as he threw the pokéball onto the stadium and tried to brace himself. When Absol came out of a ray of white light, Naruto could feel it… he could feel the shadows trying to consume his heart. It was horrible, painful… he almost felt like his heart was being ripped from his chest. Gasping, Naruto tightly gripped his shirt, right over his heart.

Even though he knew his heart was still there, it felt like there was no heart within him… his heart was still pumping but all feelings… all emotion and kindness that he would feel had disappeared for the most part. Gasping for air, the young man tried to calm himself…

Gulping, Naruto tried to control himself, tried to keep breathing and think on positive thoughts. Looking up, the young man saw that Absol was trying hard not to attack Konohamaru and that it was just as tough on him as it was on Naruto… Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out Kushina's pokéball and threw it toward Hinata. The ball opened and a bright white light burst forth as the Espeon appeared. "Kushina… listen to Hinata understand?"

_"You got it Naruto, "_calmly said Kushina as she sat down by Hinata.

Looking up, Konohamaru pulled out his own pokéball and held out his hand. The ball snapped open in the center as a bright light came forth as a small purple Pokémon appeared and formed from the white light. The Pokémon was small for sure, maybe about Kurama's size. It had small arms with no fingers, and small white oval shaped feet. Its face had a white circle with a small dip of purple down the center and big oval shaped ears with the same white oval shape in the center. Eyes sparkled blue with a hint of prank-like nature within them. Its tail was long though what didn't seem possible was that this Pokémon had a hand on the end of its tail, a hand with only three fingers.

"Ready Aipom?"

_"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, but damn Konohamaru relax! You aren't even that great of a trainer."_ said Aipom, which of course made Naruto smile a bit… even his Pokémon didn't think he was a good trainer. Naruto tried to keep himself from laughing right now.

Coughing into his hand, pain forgotten Naruto stood up straight as he said "hope you're ready to lose. Absol Shadow Rush!" Absol smirked before he charged head on. His body glowed a bright light that was black as the night, preparing to make a full on attack on Aipom. Aipom narrowed his blue eyes, looking over his shoulder hoping to hear some kind of order!

"Dodge and use scratch!" shouted Konohamaru, though the command didn't come quick enough. For Absol was much quicker than people would think. The attack hit, though Aipom managed to get a hit in and scratched Absol in the face. The dark type Pokémon howled and swung his head to throw Aipom off of him.

"Hold on Absol! You can do this, I know you can quick use your paw to swat him off of you!" shouted Naruto. His body shook in pain, gasping he looked down and saw that his nails had grown and sharpened into claws. Damn it, it was happening again!

Absol swung his paw at Aipom, but that didn't work. So, he did the next best thing… he grabbed his tail in his jaw, tightly biting down on the purple tail and spinning around in circles. Absol wasn't going to let anything beat him, there was no way… not when he had someone counting on him. Hinata stared at the battle unfold in front of her eyes and was surprised at what she was seeing. The dark aura around Absol had faded a little bit. Why though, why had it faded at all? That was something that had confused the young woman but she wasn't complaining.

"Absol use Shadow Rush again!" shouted Naruto, trying to keep this battle going… maybe the more they battled, the better their control could become… least, that was what he was hoping for.

The dark Pokémon howled and charged, his body suddenly burst in a dark red light. Hinata gasped as she said "Naruto something's wrong with Absol!" Turning over to Hinata, he had failed to notice that his eyes had turned red. His teeth had grown into fangs once more, the way Absol was right now was only progressing the darkness within Naruto's own heart. "Naruto! You're changing again!" shouted Hinata.

Naruto cursed under his breath, but at least he still had some self-control over himself right now. Turning back to Absol, he shouted "Absol, snap out of it please! You don't want to be a killing machine!"

Though, Absol didn't listen. Instead, it turned his sights on Konohamaru and charged at him. "Kushina protect around Konohamaru!" shouted Hinata. A bright blue light surrounded Konohamaru as the young boy had lifted his arms to shield himself. The attack from Absol came into contact with the protective wall, causing the dark Pokémon to growl in anger. Naruto gasped, he soon started to growl but shook his head. Repeating to himself to stay in control… he had to stay in control or risk hurting someone…

Absol growled before turning his sights on Hinata. Narrowing his eyes into slits, he charged. Hinata screamed causing Naruto to snap out of his trance. Turning, he charged and stood in front of the blue haired woman and braced himself. Narrowing his red eyes into slits, the wild blonde haired man bent his knees as he prepared himself for the attack. Absol had hit his mark; his head had slammed into Naruto's stomach.

The young man gaged from pain, he quickly wrapped his arms around Absol, digging the toes of his boots into the ground to keep him from bumping into Hinata. Naruto growled out _"Absol, listen to me you're not a killing machine! Just stop! Please Absol I know you don't want to hurt anyone, not have your own free will! Please Absol stop! ABSOL!"_

Absol's eyes blinked a few times before he stopped trying to push into Naruto and pulled away. Blinking, he tilted his head unaware of what he was doing. Naruto had a feeling that he didn't remember anything while in that stage… whatever it was… though, he was a little confused as to how he had snapped out of that strange berserk stage of his. Giving a smile, Naruto asked _"you alright?"_

Nodding his head, the Pokémon looked up as he said _"wanna… finish battle… for… Naru… to…"_

_"You got it buddy…"_

Naruto turned back to the battle as he said "alright Absol, let's get this battle done and win!" When he turned back to Absol, he noticed something… Absol's claws were glowing a dark purple… was this… an attack? Grinning, Naruto called out "Absol, use Shadow Claw!" Absol smirked as he charged, running at a fast speed that if you blinked you would miss the whole thing.

"Dodge Aipom!" shouted Konohamaru.

But, it was too late, the battle had ended… and even Naruto had to admit… that battle was not long at all… only a few attacks had been called and now it was over. His Pokémon had to be very weak at this point but he couldn't blame him, it was a school for beginners. When the battle was over, Naruto called Absol back into his pokéball and his body returned to normal… the whole experience was draining… Naruto looked at his shirt and saw that there was a clean cut just over his stomach… must have been from Absol's blade…

"You did very well Naruto… though, I must say… I didn't suspect that you could talk to Pokémon…" said Iruka as he walked over to Naruto with amazement in his eyes. "Naruto, if I may ask where are you from?"

"I'm not sure… I was found as a toddler. Why do you wanna know?" asked Naruto as he tilted is head to the side, wondering why he wanted to know in the first place. Though, Iruka just smiled before ruffling his hair a moment. This only confused Naruto all the more, why was he so curious about where he was from? Maybe it was best that he didn't know at all… maybe it was just one of those situations that he just doesn't need to know at all.

"You just kind of reminded me of someone that's all. Try Suna… that was where I met someone that reminds me of you… Though, I can't say if he's still there…" Iruka said with a smile before patting Naruto's shoulder. Naruto just blinked in confusion before nodding to the brown haired man and started to walk away with Hinata. He called back Kushina and kept on walking with her. He was just happy that Hinata didn't need to call forth her Pokémon at all…

As they walked out of the gym, Naruto looked over at Hinata as he said "what do you think is in Suna?" Hinata just shrugged, explaining to him that as far as she knew that it was just another city in the dessert. Though, when Naruto crossed his arms as he tried to think on what he could remember since he knew that he had been there or, had heard something about that town before. "Oh wait… I remember… the city is full of crocks… so, stay by me and keep a good eye on your Pokémon." Suddenly, Naruto tripped over a loose brick, yelping he twisted his body hoping to stop himself from hitting the ground.

Instead, he smacked into Hinata and landed on her after taking her down with him. Both young adults screamed out in shock and surprise. Kurama had managed to jump out of Hinata's arms just in time and land next to them. He just stared at them, shaking his head before snickering.

Groaning, Naruto mumbled out a "sorry" to Hinata before pushing himself up. When he was holding himself up with his arms, the young man blinked when his hand was gripping something soft… Tiling his head, he squeezed the soft round object in his hand a few moments and wondered what could be this big, round, and soft that could have been on the ground… Frowning, he looked down and his eyes went wide, his face going crimson. "Um…" was all he could say.

"AH!" shouted Hinata before punching Naruto in the face, sending him flying and skipping on the ground before he went smack into a building. Kurama rolled on his side laughing; Hinata's face bright red with her arms wrapped around her face. As for Naruto, he only had one thing in his mind as he lied there in the ruble.

_'Kurama was right… just as big and soft as they look… maybe bigger… heehee…'_


	7. Suna

_I had to go to the next town Suna… maybe if I'm lucky I can find this person that looks like me… maybe this person knows who I am and where I came from. There had to be something that would get me through this identity problem of mine. Was Naruto really my name or was it something else? That is something I don't really know for sure but what I do know, is that there is some kind of clue of who I truly am and a key to my past. Maybe, just maybe I can even find out how I can speak to Pokémon… that is the only thing that I really want to know besides who my parents are…_

It was a hot day, least it was even for a desert. Naruto took a deep breath as he rode on his hover bike with Hinata in the side car while she held onto Kurama in her arms and her other hand on her hat to keep it from flying away. Though, to be honest he didn't know why she even bothered with it since she looked nice without it.

Taking a deep breath, the young man tightened his hold on the handles as he drove on ahead. Naruto tried to think of his life… how it had only been filled with stealing, and evil. Narrowing his eyes behind his goggles, the young man tried to get himself to relax, for some reason he could sense something wrong… there was a strong darkness ahead of them and he couldn't be sure what it was? "Hey Hinata, do you see that?" He asked hoping that she would hear him over the roar of the engine.

"I see some kind of dark cloud over that town over there." Shouted Hinata, Naruto guessed that she wanted to make sure that he could hear her.

Nodding, Naruto had a feeling that there was something in that town… something dark for even he could feel something wrong with that place. Maybe there are Pokémon there that are being tormented. There are so many possibilities of what could be happening over there but, the more he thought about it the more he wondered how he could feel them when he doesn't feel any Pokémon's hearts but his own… it doesn't make a lick of sense to him but maybe it was a sign that his powers over them were getting stronger… but, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Taking a deep breath hoping to calm his nerves, Naruto increased the speed in the hopes of getting to the city a little quicker, he had to hurry up for he just may find some answers to more than this dark cloud that was over this town.

Though, for the time being they would have to find a place to stay in, thank god he has a lot of money on him for this to work. Well, he should be thinking that it was a good thing that he had been getting paid while working for his old team and the money he's been earning from those battles. Least that had been an upside for the most part. Frowning in deep thought, Naruto wondered what he was to do now… it seemed like… well he wasn't really sure what it really seemed like. But what he could tell was that it seemed his own skills have been increasing as time went on, with each and every battle his powers grew stronger because he was becoming more in tuned with other Pokémon rather than his own…

Shaking his head, Naruto kept on riding, maybe if he was lucky they could get a deal on rooms. Blinking his tired eyes, Naruto tried to keep himself focused, he had to make sure that they didn't crash on the sand or worse, get themselves injured.

"How you holding up Hinata?" Asked Naruto.

"Fine… I'm holding up alright." Said Hinata as she kept her eyes closed. Naruto made a note of this; buy Hinata goggles so she wouldn't have to worry about the dirt or sand going into her eyes. He knew that it had to be hard for her to travel like this without goggles. Looking on ahead, Naruto knew that he would have to drive a little faster, there was no way that he was going to let this person get away, he had to find this person that looked like himself… and get some clues to his past.

* * *

"Naruto, you sure that this place is safe?" Asked Hinata with a hint of fear and worry in her voice. Naruto of course just nodded and held Hinata's hand so she wouldn't get separated from him. Right now it was for the best, he had heard that the toughest people live here and that many people do try to steal from those who visit the city. "Naruto where are we going?"

"First things first, we book some rooms in the hotel before we do some investigating. It's the only way to make sure we have a place to stay in and so I can find that guy." Naruto said, hoping to sound as calm as possible. Taking a deep breath, the young man walked on through the town hoping to find the hotel before they started their search. Looking around, Naruto couldn't help but notice that they were all staring at him... That didn't make sense to him… why would they stare at him like they were?

"You okay Naruto?" Asked Hinata.

"I'm fine, just wondering why they were staring at me like that. It doesn't make sense; no one should look like me."

Pulling Hinata closer to his side, he said "Just stay close to me Hinata. I don't trust these people as far as I could throw them. They might try to steal your money, your Pokémon… anything." When he looked down at Hinata, he saw that her face had turned bright red, her eyes wide as if she was just surprised by the mere thought of being this close to him. But why that was, he couldn't really be sure… unless it also had something to do with him touching her breasts that one time.

Kurama jumped onto Naruto's head as he said _"They're whispering something about you Naruto…"_ and as usual, because Naruto was speaking to Pokémon his pupils would turn into slits which had caused Naruto to pull down his goggles over his eyes. _"They're saying something how you look like… their leader or something? Someone that protects the town I think is what they're saying…"_ Nodding, Naruto took a deep breath as he tried to think if maybe what these people were saying that maybe he would get the answers he was looking for.

"Hinata, do you know anything about the leader of this place?"

"No, sadly I don't…"

Sighing, Naruto scratched the back of his head as he kept on walking ahead with Hinata. Maybe they wouldn't even find anything. Looking up, Naruto saw the hotel and smiled. "Here we are Hinata." He chuckled for a moment before walking on inside with the blue haired woman he was happy to see that this place didn't seem so crowded… though, then again it didn't look as big outside to maybe there was something else that he wasn't expecting… Shaking his head, Naruto calmly said "I'd like to book two rooms please. One for me, and one for my friend here."

"Sorry sir, but we only have one room left."

"… What?"

"You two have to share a room or go to another town. We do not have a lot of rooms and they're all occupied right now."

Right now, Naruto wanted to punch someone in the face. Growling, he reached into his wallet as he said "Fine…" only to end up pulling out the amount that they needed for a room that would last them a few days. Yawning, Naruto calmly said "We'll take it. We have business to attend to here." The man behind the desk nodded and handed them the keys to their room. As for Hinata, she seemed less pleased for her face was as red as a cherry.

"Naruto…"

"Don't worry Hinata…" Calmly said Naruto as he walked with the blue haired woman to their room. "You have the bed, I'll take the couch." Hinata just nodded, the blonde haired man knew that she was shy about sharing the room with him and sighed softly. He knew that he was going to have a sore neck for a little while, or he should say for a few days.

Naruto wasn't sure how well the room was though he had a feeling that if the rooms were as anything like the outside of the building than there was nothing to look forward too. Sighing, the young man walked up to the door and unlocked the door before walking in. There was a small TV, a big bed, clean room of course and a small cramp looking couch. Oh joy…

"Hinata, you still get the bed. I've slept on rougher things than this before." Calmly said Naruto before he went to sit down to relax for a moment. The couch wasn't very comfy but for the time being, he didn't have much of a choice now did he. Yawning, he looked through the papers that he had stashed away in his pocket and lied down as he started to read. For the time being, this would be all that he could do until his eyes had returned to normal for he didn't want to have to keep walking around with his goggles on.

_It seems that Naruto's reaction to the first Shadow Pokémon wasn't as great as we had hoped. It seemed that with him still being young, that his body couldn't handle the power over the shadows. For right now, he seems to be suffering from nightmares and a terrible fever. We would have to try this again when he's older, possibly a teenager or a young adult. Maybe this way, we have a shot at making him be near a Shadow Pokémon. But what we do hope for is that he will be the master of all Shadow Pokémon when the plan is in motion. For if he disappears before that happens we would have trained him, raised him for nothing when we took him from his parents._

_It hadn't been enough that we had trained him in stealing, trained him in hand to hand combat and now it seems that he is starting to get a little too attached to his Pokémon. There is no telling what is on his mind with him being so young._

_Though, what we do know is that even if Naruto does escape from our plans, that he would still be influenced by their power. If there is a collection of Shadow Pokémon, he'll see and sense it, we're positive of this. For even a person could sense when someone is in trouble of some kind… and Naruto will feel the pain of a group of Pokémon hearts whether he likes it or not._

They might have had more into this plan than we thought. But what is the Ultimate Trainer that had been mentioned earlier again? These notes aren't really telling him much; all he knew is that they seemed to have used a Shadow Pokémon on him before but… if that was true why doesn't he remember that? Have they done something to his memory or had the encounter caused trauma to him? That was the only thing that he could think of for the time being. Though, what he did know was that right now he had to figure out more of his past and these notes help with the little information that they contain.

"Naruto, you okay?"

Jumping out of his seat, Naruto fell over in shock. He must have been in deep thought that he hadn't heard her walk up to him. Looking up, Naruto saw Hinata staring at him with concern as she said "You okay? You seemed pale for a moment." Naruto blinked at her in confusion… why would his skin go pale? Damn it, maybe just thinking about what he had read had caused him to have some kind of… what was it called? Body Memory Reaction? That could be it, since he had heard that there are two kinds of memories. The memory of the body and the memory of the mind.

Sitting up, Naruto pushed himself up to his feet as he said "I'm fine, just reading some stuff, nothing to important. Hey um… how about we go look for that guy now?" Naruto added the last part with a nervous laugh, he didn't want Hinata to find out about his past quite yet… it wasn't the right time to tell her… Hell, he doesn't even know why he cares if she knows or not but at the moment, he had to get her home.

Dusting himself off, Naruto pulled off his goggles and looked at his reflection for a moment and saw that his eyes had returned to normal. Looking over at Kurama, he calmly said "Stay here; watch the room while we're gone." Kurama nodded before curling up on the couch and went to sleep. The small Pokémon sure liked to sleep when given the chance. Looking over at Hinata once more, he smiled a bit before walking with her out of this place. Least he could at least try to be happy for her sake… he could easily sense that Hinata was worried about him with the few times he had been consumed by the shadows of the Shadow Pokémon, but at least last time he didn't go fully evil.

* * *

Naruto and Hinata had walked around for a while… checking out some of the stores. Naruto of course bought some ramen packets and some new pokéballs that he could use for snagging more Shadow Pokémon. As for Hinata, she bought some packets of Pokémon food for her two Pokémon, though it was amazing how little she bought. It had caused Naruto to just stare in confusion.

Sighing softly, the young man looked up at the sky as he wondered… wondered more about his past. What happened to his parents? Do they miss him; have they been searching for him this entire time? The thought of his parents made his heart ache, wondering if they ever loved him. Sighing once more, Naruto looked over at Hinata as she was going through her shopping bag for the new items that she had purchased. Though, as he stared at her, Naruto couldn't help but think on how beautiful she was… Blushing, he turned away and started to look around the town, wondering if there was anything out of sorts in this place… though, nothing seemed out of the ordinary…

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto started to walk on ahead, people scampering out of the streets, as if they were trying to avoid him at all costs. This only served to piss him off all the more. How could he get any information on the guy if everyone is scared of him?!

"I'll try something Naruto." Calmly said Hinata as she just smiled up at him and walked on ahead toward a couple that was walking ahead. Sighing, Naruto crossed his arms, his index finger tapping against his upper arm as he went into deep thought. Why would they be afraid of him in the first place? Was it because he was angry and had a habit of looking scary or to the point of punching someone's lights out? Yeah, he would have if it called for it but this does not call for a throe beating.

Sighing, he rubbed the bridge of his nose as he tried to clear his thoughts. Maybe if he was lucky, they would find some kind of hint or something that would tell him why they were scared of him, and where that one person was… this place was really annoying him and he's only been here for an hour! Looking up, he saw Hinata walking on back toward him with a bright smile on her face. "I know where to find the leader of this place. He's the one that looks like you!" Hinata said with a bright and cheerful smile.

The leader looks like him? Well, he didn't see that coming. Staring at Hinata for a moment, he asked "Do you know where he is?" Hinata nodded before grabbing Naruto's hand before walking on toward one of the buildings that he had missed. How that was possible, he didn't know for this building was huge! Not as huge as the one building by the gorge but enough so to give the appearance of an apartment. Or even a mansion, either way it was huge.

Walking up to the door, Naruto tried to get himself to relax… this was going to be a long day that was for sure. Hinata looked up at him, showing concern on her face as she wondered if Naruto was panicking of some sort. "You okay Naruto?" asked Hinata with worry in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm alright… just nervous. What if this person that looks like me is my father?"

"Naruto… just calm down okay?"

Naruto gave a small smile before knocking on the door hoping that someone would answer him. Though, he couldn't really say what was going to happen, though for what he did know was that he would end up getting some answers. That was for sure… Taking a deep breath, the young man knocked on the door again hoping that someone was here, that someone was home that would let them in so he could get those answers.

Suddenly, the door swung open causing both young adults to jump back in shock as he stared in shock. The man at the door was just a normal looking butler. "How can I help you two?"

"I'm looking for the leader…" The butler just nodded and let the two young adults into the mansion. Naruto was amazed at how big the place looked inside. It was amazing that was for sure. Frowning in confusion… Naruto couldn't help but notice many pictures. Some of a slightly elderly man with a man that looked almost look like Naruto but without the whisker marks.

Tilting his head, the young man looked up and kept on walking down the hall with Hinata. She looked over at Naruto as she said "Don't you find it weird how there are many pictures of two men that sort of looks like you?" Her only answer was the nod of his head. The one man had slightly faded blonde hair while the other was pure blonde like his own. It had him a little confused as to why this was happening…

"Wait here while I get the master." Calmly said the butler when they had entered the living room. Naruto and Hinata just nodded and waited around while the butler went to get the leader of this town.

Hinata looked up at Naruto as she grabbed hold of his hand. Smiling, she calmly said "I'm sure that everything will be alright Naruto. Don't worry okay?" She just smiled at him as he just stared at her before giving her a smile himself. Running a hand through his hair, Naruto took a deep breath hoping to calm himself. It was hard to believe all those pictures, and it made Naruto wonder how this guy acted, there was no telling what would happen when he came face to face with this guy…

Looking around the room, Naruto couldn't help but notice that it was a simple looking room, a nice couch, TV set… loud speakers. Okay it had a few really nice things but damn it he wanted to get so much more of this stuff… his desire to steal it was pulsing through him like the desire to breathe. Why did he have to be raised by thieves? This was just so unfair! Shaking his head, Naruto calmly said "If I start moving toward anything… hold me back please." Hinata was about to ask why until he said "I was raised by thieves, I would steal anything if I felt the desire… and trust me, it's hard enough."

Hinata just nodded and held onto Naruto's hand a little more. Maybe he just needed something to hold him down in a sense, to make sure that he wouldn't take off and try to steal anything. This had to be hard for him, and she knew that it had to be if he really was raised by thieves. Looking around, Hinata saw just how nice everything really was here, it had to be hard for him to fight this urge and she knew that it had to be as hard as he made it out to be. It would be like for her to stop trying to help those in need.

"Presenting Master Arashi." Looking over, Hinata let go of Naruto's hand for a moment as she stared at the man. His hair was short like Naruto's though it had faded slightly to an almost white color… eyes blue as the ocean, his clothes consisting of a white button down dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. And some long yet loose fitting black pants. The man's eyes were stern and almost… angry looking.

"You no good brat!" Shouted the man as he charged at Naruto and punched him in the face. "Damn it Minato you've been… if I knew that you were… damn it why didn't you visit me sooner you no good for nothing son!" Shouted the man, his eyes shining with rage. Hinata yelped at the man punching Naruto, knocking the whisker marked man down to the ground.

Naruto groaned as he said "My name… isn't Minato… my name is… ugh… Naruto." The old man grabbed Naruto by his shirt and stared at him for a moment. Looking over his face as if trying to figure him out for a moment. The man's eyes widened for a moment before gently setting Naruto down on the floor and turning away. Naruto frowned at this Arashi fellow as he said "I need to ask you something… I see a dark cloud over this town and I need to know what is causing it."

Arashi sighed softly as he said "It's a long story… I'll explain everything."


	8. Mission Part One Colosseum

_I didn't expect this guy to be able to tell us anything. Though, when he slugged me he had said a name… Minato… why does that name sound so familiar to me? Sure, I know that my Umbreon is named Minato but, even when I had picked that name I felt sadness with it, a deep longing. Like I did with Kushina's name, but I couldn't be sure why he had mistaken me for his son, for his son should be older than I was._

_But, right now I had to focus on what this guy had to say… it was the only way to solve the problem with the strange dark cloud over the town. There was nothing more I could do right now, then to listen to what he had to say._

Naruto just stared at the old man as he rubbed his cheek. It still hurt from the slugging he got earlier but damn, he just hoped that his cheek bone wasn't broken. The old man sure could hit hard… makes him wonder if he was a body builder in his younger days though didn't dare comment on that. Hinata sat next to him as sipped some tea. Sure, he had been offered some but tea never was his favourite thing to drink. Looking at the old man, Naruto wondered why he looked so… he couldn't really say but he felt like he's seen this man before, but he just couldn't place his finger on it.

"Where to begin…" said the old man with a sigh before sipping his own tea. Leaning back into his seat, Arashi calmly started to explain the story of this town, or he should say the reason Naruto seemed to be 'seeing' the cloud over the city. "Well, it started recently, but it had spread pretty quick I guess you could say. The town had been starting to be controlled by a group called Cipher." As soon as Naruto heard that name, his eyes narrowed into slits. He had read that name in his files, they had something to do with his past, he just knew it…

Running a hand through his pale blonde coloured hair, Arashi calmly said "I at first thought that they were just giving out Pokémon to trainers that won in the colosseum so I didn't do anything. No one dared to mess with me or break the law." Naruto frowned, was this guy really that tough and a badass trainer as he so claims to be? "But something happened… the battles I've been seeing lately in the colosseum and out of it, they've been becoming violent and dangerous. I didn't know what to do, so I went to the company that was giving out these strange and dark Pokémon. But, they ended up taking my most prized Pokémon."

"What Pokémon did they take from you?" asked Hinata with concern.

"My Riolu, Blade…"

"Blade?" Naruto raised his eyebrow as he heard that. To him, it was a little weird to name a Pokémon Blade, to him it just didn't make sense to him in the least but he had a feeling that there was a reason for it. But he didn't dare question this guy, thinking that if he did that he would get slugged again and, he did not want to be black and blue… those colours just didn't work for him. Shaking his head, Naruto calmly asked "why haven't you fought to get Blade back?"

"They threatened that if I did anything to ruin their plans, they would turn Blade into one of them. I can't risk his safety." Calmly said Arashi with a sigh before he had his elbows on his knees and his head buried in his hands. In that instant, Naruto almost could have sworn that he aged twenty years just from his guilt alone. Frowning, Naruto leaned in his seat… trying to put himself in Arashi's position. Could he have just sit back and allow that to have happened to his Pokémon? Sure, he would be upset but he would still do what he could to get Kushina, Minato or even Kurama out of harms reach.

And what of Hinata? Would he just sit back and watch her Pokémon get stolen from her own earrings and be held captive? No… he wouldn't just allow that to happen. With his sneaking skills, he could easily break into any building and not set off an alarm at all.

If there was one thing that being a thief had taught him, it was that nothing was impossible. Pushing himself up onto his feet, Naruto declared "I'll save your Pokémon; no one deserves to have their best friend held captive no matter the circumstance! I'll take them down from the inside out! Nothing will stop me!"

Arashi stared at Naruto with wide eyes, for only one other person had said something like that before… it echoed through his mind like an old memory. _"I won't let Pokémon suffer so long as I can help it dad. I'll take down Cipher from the inside out, and nothing is ever going to stop me! I'll make sure of it!"_ With those words, Arashi smiled a bit before leaning back into his seat. His smile was peaceful, and happy… It was almost as if his son was still here with him. Pushing himself up, he calmly said "you remind me of my son. Though, I'd like to know how you're going to get in."

Naruto just grinned as he scratched the back of his head as if he had forgotten that part of the plan. "I don't really know but if it's just at the colosseum and they give Shadow Pokémon to the winner then all I have to do is go in, kick some serious ass and bam; I will possibly be taken to their base."

Arashi just raised an eyebrow at Naruto as he said "alright. That plan doesn't seem to suck so bad." Naruto wanted to punch him but at the same time, he didn't… this was all so confusing. Taking a deep breath, Arashi calmly said "fine, but I don't know if you can handle it. You don't look like a good trainer."

"Naruto-kun is a good trainer. He saved my life and he's trying to save Pokémon from Team Snagem! He's the most powerful trainer I know." Said Hinata, her face filled with sadness that anyone would ever doubt Naruto's strength. Though, he was thankful that she didn't tell Arashi how he had almost lost control over the shadows that try to consume him when he uses or captures Shadow Pokémon. He couldn't help but smile at her for that… she must really have a good heart.

"I cannot be sure of that. Show me your Pokémon." Said Arashi as he crossed his arms. Well, it looks like he didn't have much of a choice. Taking a deep breath, the young man reached for his belt and pulled out the three Pokéballs that he has on him. Still nervous with Absol being out but at the moment, he couldn't help it.

"Come out Kushina, Minato, Absol." What Naruto hadn't seen, was the widened blue eyes of Arashi when he said the first two names. In a burst of light, Naruto saw his Pokémon getting ready for battle only to frown in confusion when they all turned to stare at Naruto. The young man just gave them a small smile, trying to fight the shadows trying to control him since he had Absol out as well. Naruto looked over and saw that Hinata was staring at him with worry and concern, knowing fully well that could happen if he keeps Absol out for too long.

"Hm… these are strong Pokémon indeed. But, I do want to ask what is wrong with your Absol?"

"He's a Shadow Pokémon I took from a trainer. He was a lot worse when I first captured him but I'm doing what I can to purify him." Arashi nodded, but for some reason Naruto noticed that he kept on staring at Kushina and Minato. Only to frown in confusion as if he was trying to think or remember something important.

"Where did you get the Umbreon and Espeon?"

"I was given them when they were hatched from their eggs." Naruto said, not noticing the strange nervous looks on Kushina's and Minato's faces. Arashi though didn't miss it and had seen the strange looks on their faces but didn't comment on them. Running a hand through his hair, Naruto took a deep breath as he returned them to their Pokéballs and sighed softly, feeling a little more relief from the darkness.

Shaking his head, Naruto tried to get himself to relax from the darkness… There was still so much he had to learn about this darkness, knowing that if he wasn't careful that it could easily consume him and it could possibly cause him to hurt anyone. Or worse, he could possibly kill Hinata. Just thinking about it caused a strange throb of pain to shoot through his heart. But why was he feeling pain in his heart in the first place? None of this was making a lick of sense…

Taking a deep breath, Naruto looked at Arashi as he said "well, I guess I should get Kurama and go on to the colosseum. Thank you for telling us what you could but… I want to ask… why were you so upset when you thought I was your son?"

Arashi stared at Naruto with a deep sadness, one that could make anyone cry just at the sight of this tough old man. The old man frowned as he whispered "my son… my daughter-in-law…" Shaking his head, he said "never mind, just go alright Naruto." Naruto just frowned, wondering what the old guy was going to say. Though, when he had said it… the way he had said what he did say… Naruto felt like something had happened. Suddenly, a flash of red had flashed into his mind, as did the screams of a woman and a man.

"Naruto you okay?"

Blinking, Naruto looked over at Hinata who had been waving her hand in front of Naruto's face, her face filled with concern over the blonde haired man. He just gave her a small smile as he said "I'm fine Hinata. Just blacked out I guess. Come on, let's get a move on." He chuckled a bit and started to walk out the door, though Arashi's voice had stopped him.

"What's your last name Naruto…?" asked Arashi before Naruto had walked out the door."

"My last name? Uzumaki."

"Uzumaki huh…" Arashi smiled a bit before writing something down and handing it to the blonde young man as he said "here, message me when you get into the building alright?" Naruto nodded and handed Arashi his PDA number before leaving with Hinata. Though, he had missed what Arashi had said after he left… "I never thought… I'd see my grandson again…"

* * *

_"So you found a way to get into the building huh?"_ asked Kurama with confusion after Naruto and Hinata had arrived into the hotel room. Naruto had explained everything that had happened while at Arashi's home, though Kurama had a strange look on his face which had caused Naruto to frown at him in confusion. Was there something that he didn't know about? Shaking his head, the young man picked up Kurama and set the small fox on his head and walked on ahead with Hinata in tow.

"Naruto, what do you think will happen?" asked Hinata as she looked up at the blonde young man. Naruto just shrugged; even he didn't know what would happen. For this whole thing was an unpredictable event that was for sure. Taking a deep breath, the young man walked over the long bridge, though Naruto looked down and frowned. Kurama though was screaming for Naruto to tilt his head back up.

_"Naruto tilt your head back up! Tilt your head back up, I don't want to fall off into that hole!"_ shouted Kurama, tightly clinging to Naruto's hair. Chuckling, Naruto tilted his head back before walking over the bridge with Hinata. At least he knew what Kurama was afraid of so that was a plus. Though, as he walked toward the colosseum… a worn out building of course he noticed that at the entrance were two guys fighting someone. Frowning, Naruto just assumed that it was nothing, that they were just doing what guys normally do which of course was fighting over something.

Though, as soon as blood started to stain their fists and the ground, Naruto had gone into a state of shock. In his mind's eye, Naruto saw blood being spilled, heard people screaming and the sound of a baby crying. Shaking his forehead, Naruto backed away, his body trembling trying to get away from all of this.

Hinata held onto Naruto and started to bring him into the building not sure what was going on. The young woman gently slapped Naruto's face hoping to snap him out of it. There was no way that he could be in this much shock but it seemed that he would be in shock for a little while. Though, least they had a lot of time before the battles started.

* * *

"So you'd like to register?" said the woman behind the counter with a cheerful smile on her face.

Naruto had finally calmed down maybe an just ten minutes ago and thought that he could handle the battle. Though, he wasn't sure what was going on with him lately. It seemed like some kind of wall within his mind had broken down and now he seemed to have some kind of panic attack or something when he see's blood. Not to mention those weird sounds in his mind when that does happen.

Kurama had been acting weird as well when he was panicking or something. Like he knew what was causing this but dared not to say anything in the least. Though, he couldn't really be sure what was causing it in the least… Ah well. Looking up at the woman, he calmly said "yes, I'd like to take place in the battle here."

"Alright, what Pokémon do you plan to use?"

"My Espon and Umbreon."

"Alright, just sign here and go on in."

"May I bring my friend with me? I don't want her getting hurt in the crowds."

"Alright, but she would have to stay out of the way."

"Of course, thank you." Naruto said with a big smile before walking on inside with Hinata. Though, he was still a little worried about what could or would happen if he wasn't careful. There was no telling that what these people had with Pokémon, what if they had a Pokémon that was a Shadow Pokémon?

Hinata grabbed Naruto's sleeve causing the blonde man to look down at the blue haired woman. He could easily see that she was scared of this battle, thinking that people were going to hurt his Pokémon for the grand prize. Hinata looked up at him through her lashes as she said "don't be too hard… please?" Naruto just smiled at her as he nodded, showing that he wasn't going to push Minato and Kushina too hard in this battle. But, at the moment he didn't have much of a choice… he had to fight, he had to fight to win!

There would be nothing that was going to stop him from this battle. From winning this battle, and nothing, and he meant nothing was going to prevent that from happening.

* * *

Taking a deep breath, he could tell that Kushina and Minato were tired but damn it… those were the only Pokémon he had that weren't Shadow Pokémon. He couldn't risk using Absol or they wouldn't think that he was worthy of a Shadow Pokémon. Why were there so many battles?! And worst of all, why don't they heal your Pokémon after each battle? This was just so stupid! But, again he had to keep going. Kushina fought in the last battle so that left Minato to do the battling this time.

"What are you gonna battle with punk?" said a man who looked like he was a body builder. He wore shorts and what looked like a spandex shirt. Naruto narrowed his eyes; this guy thought that he was the punk? Ha, that was a laugh. Sure he was a thief but a punk? Hell no! Unlike most punks, Naruto had honour and that was something thieves don't normally have. "I'm going to win that Pokémon, and I'll win it by crushing you!"

"Hold on Naruto, I know you can do it!" shouted Hinata from behind him. Naruto could only smile at that; least someone had faith in him. Eyes narrowing into angry slits, the young man reached for his belt as he grabbed a Pokéball and tossed it called out Minato's name.

_"So what are we fighting now Naruto? Please tell me this is the last battle… I can't handle another one after this."_ Minato groaned out before looking up and staring at the brown haired body builder only to sigh. _"Really? This guy, we're fighting a guy that only thinks with his muscles and not his head?"_

"Yeah, nothing can be done about that Minato. Let's just beat this guy and get out of here. I'll give you and Kushina some treats later." Said Naruto with a smile before his opponent threw out a Pokéball… and coming out of it was a dog-like Pokémon, figures it was a growlith. He already fought a Pokémon like that and damn it he already knew how this was going to end. Shaking his head, Naruto's pupils turned into slits as he tried to listen to what the builder's guy's Pokémon was going to say.

_"I can't believe that he's going to replace me with a stupid Shadow Pokémon… I can't believe that this is going to happen…"_

Well, it seemed that the guy was going to get rid of his Pokémon for a Shadow Pokémon if he wins. Narrowing his eyes Naruto called out "Minato, use Iron Tail, and then use Shadow Ball!" Minato smirked as he charged at the growlith, his tail glowing white a sure sign that he was using Iron Tail. The attack made contact with growlith's face; Minato twisted his body around into a circle as he launched a Shadow Ball into him.

"Growlith, use Flame Thrower!" shouted the Body Builder.

Growlith did as he was told and shot out a stream of flames, causing Minato to jump and dodge. Though, his left paw was hit by the attack, it just singed his fur a bit though not enough to badly hurt him. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto knew that dig would be enough to take this guy down and plus all the attacks that Naruto had called out were in Pokémon speak, no one could understand him but him and Pokémon, and possibly someone with the same gift as him. But that would or should be impossible, least that's what he thinks.

Shaking his head, Naruto frowned and smirked, he thought of something. Maybe he should make a punch of holes into the ground and… yeah, that could work. "Minato, use dig! Don't attack; just dig holes in different places!" Minato nodded and did just that. Though, there was no way of knowing if this attack would finish him but at the moment that didn't matter. All they could do was just finish this battle but… the more he thought about it the more he wondered just how strong this guy's Pokémon was in the first place.

Shaking his head, Naruto looked over at Growlith and frowned a little as he kept trying to think on what level of strength this Pokémon would have… _"Growlith, what level of strength do you have? How long have you been with your trainer?"_ asked Naruto with confusion on his face.

_"A month… I'm a pup."_

This guy was making a pup fight?! That's cruel! Shaking his head, he would have to take this little guy down a little easier without killing it. Though, that was easier said than done… Taking a deep breath, Naruto called out "Minato down the attack strength, just knock him out, don't do anything more."

_"You got it Naruto!"_

Naruto knew that a few attacks could clearly beat this pup, but if there was one thing it was that he had to be careful not to hurt it too badly. But in the terms of battle, he had to be a little rough but this was a risk he had to take. Taking a deep breath, the young man called out "Minato, hyper beam then dig again!" Minato though was a little confused but did as he was told. He used Hyper Beam like Naruto had said, though had a feeling that there was something more to this than Minato thought.

Beams shot out of the holes that had been made so far, causing the body builder and Growlith to jump in shock and surprise. That was a good enough distraction but he had one last trick up his sleeve. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto screamed out "now Minato!" Just as he said that, Minato shot out of the ground under the fire-dog Pokémon, causing his opponent to jump in shock and surprise. When Growlith hit the ground, he didn't get back up.

It seemed that the hit had knocked it out, which made Naruto happy. Though his body was worn out from his Pokémon being so tired. He cursed his connection to his Pokémon sometimes but either way, he was happy. Though, he just smiled real big when the announcement had been made. "Naruto Uzumaki is the winner!"

Now, he only had to get into the building… and that would be enough for him that was for sure. But, would he be able to solve this mystery or would he just crash and burn? Ah well, better not worry about that right now.


	9. Mission Part Two Encounter

_I don't know why, but I kept feeling more darkness in my heart. It almost seemed like the longer I stayed in this town, the more I was turning evil. I was becoming the person I thought I had left behind. I was becoming the very person that my old team wanted, and needed me to be. A cold-hearted person that stole and…and beat people until they were nearly dead. I don't want to be that person anymore and yet, I'm slowly becoming just that. Would I return to being him again? And worst of all…would I hurt Hinata?_

Naruto didn't know what was going to happen now, though he had a good feeling that he was going to be in a lot of pain. Taking a deep breath, Naruto and Hinata started to walk out of the stadium. He couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen. So far, he hadn't heard or seen anyone mention the 'Shadow Pokémon', which only served to confuse him. Where was the location of the store or whatever the place was?

"You okay Naruto?" asked Hinata with concern.

"Yeah, just wondering what happens now…I won and everything, yet nothing…"

"Well, what about that guy blocking our path on the bridge?"

Blinking, Naruto looked up and saw that Hinata was right. Standing on the bridge was a man wearing a dark blue helmet with shades that covered the top half of his face. A long yellow scarf flowed out behind him. The rest of this guy's outfit was a suit of blue armor that didn't look all that strong, but was durable and flexible.

The man smirked as he said, "Hey, you Naruto Uzumaki?" Naruto just nodded and held Hinata behind him. This guy was fast, that was for sure…he had been so distracted with trying to figure out where to go that the young man hadn't noticed the guy right in front of him. The man just smiled all the more as he said, "Well, for being the winner, you are welcome to your pick of Shadow Pokémon. Please follow me." With that, he turned around and started to lead Naruto and Hinata to their destination.

The blond was concerned about what was going to happen. He was prepared for hand to hand combat, so he had nothing to worry about. At least, when that moment came to pass. This was going to be tough, that was for sure. Normally he could handle this whole thing alone, just break in and bam, he's done, but with Hinata with him, that was almost impossible. Right now, he just had to act like he didn't know anything, and when the time was right, he would kick ass and go right up to the top of this place.

_"Naruto, you sure that it's safe to just follow this guy? What if it's a trap?"_ asked Kurama. Naruto's only answer was a shrug of his shoulders. Even he didn't know. He didn't know the building's interior, and because of that, he would just have to make up his plan as he went along. This was going to be one hell of a fight, that was for sure. Taking a deep breath, the young man held Hinata's hand, hoping that would help her to relax since this was her first real mission.

Kurama leapt from Hinata's arms and landed on Naruto's shoulder, avoiding the Snag Machine as he leaned into the blond's ear, whispering about what they were going to do once inside. Naruto of course, had just whispered to him how they were just going to go in, beat the crap out of anyone that tries to interfere with getting the Pokémon from this place, and get out of there. Kurama just gave him a bland stare as if saying, 'You're all brawn and no brains'. Naruto just rolled his eyes at the tiny Pokémon and kept on following this blue armored weirdo.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto closed his eyes as he tried to focus on the dark aura that was swirling around the town. It seemed that it was mainly focusing around a tall building.

Naruto's eyes were red when they opened, almost as if he was being controlled by the shadows once again. But he still had his sense of self. Maybe it was because he was holding onto Hinata, and her presence kept the darkness from controlling him? Was she some kind of key to his darkness, or was there more to it than he realizes? Grabbing his shades, the young man slid the strap up the back of his head before placing the shades over his eyes to keep people from freaking out over them.

Taking a deep breath, the young man tried to calm his nerves. There was no way that he was going to let this dark aura control him. He had to keep himself calm.

"We're here."

Blinking behind his shades, Naruto looked up and saw that they were at the tall building and frowned. He had been here before, a year or so ago, but no one was ever here. The building had been abandoned for a long time…Wait, this would have been the perfect building for them to give out Shadow Pokémon at! Narrowing his eyes, Naruto followed the armored guy inside, hoping that there wouldn't be too much of a confrontation.

"I want you to wait down here while I go upstairs…Wait, when did you put on the shades? Why don't you take them off? It isn't that bright in here," said the armored man as he crossed his arms in confusion.

Naruto just smiled a bit as he said, "You really want to know why I have my shades on? Ever heard of the trainer that could talk to and understand Pokémon?" Sure, it was risky, but somewhere deep in his mind, he wanted to strike fear into this heart. He wanted this man to be afraid, afraid of him. Why that was, he didn't know, but maybe even Hinata's pure influence could only do so much for him at this point.

"I've heard of him. They his eyes change when he speaks to Pokémon. Why?" Naruto just smirked before charging at a blinding speed. He grabbed the man's neck, lifted him a few centimeters from the ground and smirked. "What are you?!" shouted the frightened man in panic.

Naruto just smirked before sliding his shades up onto his head and staring at the frightened blue armored man with his red eyes. His smile was almost dark and sinister as he said "I'm Naruto Uzumaki…and I speak to Pokémon." He then held his fist back and slammed it into the man's face, just barely cracking the helmet so he wouldn't kill him. This was a sure sign that he was still in control of himself, which of course caused Hinata to sigh in relief behind him. The man got scared when he was released and ran off. Hinata rushed to Naruto and held his hand hoping to relax him…Did she know that she relaxed him?

"Naruto. Relax, okay?" whispered Hinata, hoping that her soothing words would have an effect on Naruto. Slowly turning, Naruto stared at Hinata. His eyes were still red, but they weren't thirsty for blood. Just calm and relaxed, like his usual eyes. Taking a deep breath, the young man straightened himself out before sliding his shades back over his eyes. This sure was a stressful day, and it had only just begun.

Running a hand through his blond locks, he looked up at the ceiling as he tried to think of what to do next. Wait! Smirking, he let go of Hinata's hand for a moment and pulled out Kushina and Minato's Pokéballs and called them out. His search team. The Pokémon just looked up at Naruto and frowned a little in confusion, as if trying to figure out what was going on. "Kushina, Kurama, and Minato, we're searching this building. Kushina and Minato, search the air ducts for information. Kurama, you check the rooms. If anyone comes into the room, just hide, alright?" All of them just nodded, though they looked worriedly at Naruto as if wondering if he was going to be okay.

Naruto, of course, gave them a small smile before reaching into his jacket and pulling out some headsets for them to wear. The Pokémon frowned, still a little worried, only to run off to do what they needed to do. Naruto knew that even while on their mission, they would still worry over him with what has been happening lately.

"Naruto, you sure you're okay?" asked Hinata with worry in her voice.

"To be honest Hinata, I don't know."

His eyes were sad. He was afraid of turning into a monster, f hurting people if he was too far gone into the darkness. Maybe that would be his future…He would turn evil and hurt those dear to him. There was no way of knowing what could or would happen if he kept fighting with these Shadow Pokémon, but it was for the sake of their safety and sanity.

Looking around the room, the young man saw a closed door and frowned a bit. It didn't connect to the ceiling, but it was just too tall for someone to go over…unless they had some help, of course. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled out a couple of climbing claws. "Hinata, stay here. I'll unlock this from the inside," Naruto calmly said as he started to climb up the door.

To be honest, it was a lot harder than he thought it would be. The door was slick and smooth. It was amazing that the claws were able to cling to this thing. His feet kept on slipping, too, but he managed. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto managed to get his arm over the top of the sliding doors and growled as he heaved himself up and over the door and jumped down.

Well, that was a little tougher than he thought, but nothing can stop the world's best thief! Smirking, the young man turned around and blinked when he saw a control pad. Great, his one weakness. Shaking his head, the young man pulled out a spray can and used it on the key pad, to find that the fingerprints were only on four keys. From the way the fingers smudged and angled, it seemed that this person only uses his right hand. Smirking, he pressed the four keys in the right order and watched as the door started to slide open.

Once the door opened, Hinata rushed to Naruto and smiled at him. It was nice to see that he was able to open the door. Naruto smiled at her as he said, "Don't worry Hinata. We'll get to the bottom of this…Or rather, the top." He laughed softly before walking with Hinata to the elevator that was in the back of the room.

The blue haired woman just smiled gently at Naruto. He could tell that she had been worried about him when he was climbing over the wall. Though he wondered if she was more worried about his eyes still being red. There was no way of knowing at this rate. Looking at the clear glass, Naruto knew that he had to do this, that he had to go up or everyone would end up with Shadow Pokémon, and the world would be overrun by these dark animals.

As he and Hinata walked into the elevator and watched the lights pass them by, Naruto tried to get his thoughts to clear. If he was going to face the people that were behind this, he had to think of something that could get his mind off of what could or would happen. Crossing his arms, the young man leaned back against the wall as he listened to the sounds that surrounded him.

_"Naruto, we found blue prints for some kind of tower…"_ said Minato through his headset.

"Search the room again a few times okay? You too Kushina."

_"You got it, Naruto,"_ said Kushina with a smile, at least that's how it sounded to him. Listening for Kurama, he tried to find out if the little guy had found anything that could be of use to him. Though, the little guy just said that he hadn't found anything yet. Naruto frowned at that. Kurama had sounded a little nervous for some reason. Shrugging that off for now, the young man opened his eyes and looked up. They were still moving…

Just how tall was this building, anyway!?

"Naruto…What do you plan to do when this whole thing is over?" asked Hinata.

"Not sure. I was just planning to keep helping people to help make up for the crimes I've committed while working for Team Snaggem."

Naruto took a deep breath once more; he seemed to be doing that a lot today. His nerves must be shot right now. Oh well, this just proves that he's feeling something, right? Considering the fact that he was rumored to be an emotionless trainer, he guessed he was making progress. Frowning, the young man scratched the back of his head before opening his eyes, and the elevator finally stopped.

Sighing, he walked out with Hinata and saw that he was in some kind storage room. Shaking his head, he ran on ahead, Hinata hot on his heels as they both ran up some stairs. There was no way of knowing what could happen, though what he did know was that he was going to win this fight and kick some serious ass! But what he saw at the top of the stairs had surprised him greatly.

The room was filled with monitors, though most of the screens were out. Though what bothered him the most was the woman that stood in the room. The woman had short red hair that reached her shoulders. Her eyes were as green as emeralds, and her clothes consisted of torn blue jeans with a black shirt that had small holes in the sleeves and the stomach. However, it was her face that had caused Naruto to stare in shock. The woman looked so familiar to him for some reason, he didn't know why.

Shaking his head, Naruto gulped and looked at her sides. Standing next to her were two more people, both wearing the same kind of armor as that guy that brought them here. But both of them were women, and their armor was purple. Growling, Naruto asked, "You handing out Shadow Pokémon to trainers?"

"Yeah, I am. What are you going to do about it?" asked the red head with a smirk, though her eyes shined with shock and confusion while staring at him. He didn't know why, but ignored it for now.

"I'm going to kick your ass!" shouted Naruto as he tossed out a Pokéball while shouting, "Let's go Absol! We're going to beat these guys!" Just like that, the Pokéball opened, letting out a bright red light as the dark type Pokémon emerged from the light and let out a battle cry, showing that he was ready for a fight. This of course made Naruto smirk. Nothing was going to stop him, he was going to win this battle!

The woman just smirked as she tossed out a Pokéball and coming out of that was a tiny mouse Pokémon. Its small lightning bolt shaped black tail wagged back and forth. On its cheeks were two little pink dots which would spark now and again. Atop of its yellow head were big yellow ears outlined in black. Around its neck was an area of black fur. It seemed friendly enough, but deep in its eyes, there was anger and darkness. Hinata walked up to Naruto, whispering "That's a Shadow Pokémon, Naruto…You have to be careful."

"I know Hinata…Don't worry, it's just one Shadow Pokémon. I can handle capturing one at least…" whispered Naruto, though in all honesty he wasn't sure whether he could. At this point, anything could happen to him, and the one that could be in danger was Hinata. She was the only one that he worried about besides his Pokémon…Wait, was he really that worried about Hinata?!

Shaking his head, the young man said, "Time to kick some ass! Absol, use Shadow Rush!" The Pokémon nodded and charged at the Pichu. There was no way that anyone could mistake Absol for a Shadow Pokémon now. It almost seemed like he had broken free of his bonds of darkness. The Pichu grinned and charged as well, his body covered in the darkness of his own aura. Both Pokémon flew away from each other as soon as their attacks made contact. It seemed that their attacks were even. Frowning, Naruto shook his head, right now he had to focus on getting this Shadow Pokémon!

"Absol, use…uh…" Damn it, he didn't know if Absol could use other attacks! Suddenly, he heard Absol say something to him…His words were a little muffled, and he wasn't sure why that was, but he managed to figure out what he was trying to say. "Use Night Slash!" shouted Naruto with a smirk. Absol nodded, his body moving in a black blur, his claws lighting up in a black light. It was different from his Shadow Rush, a sign that this was a true attack and not one of a Shadow Pokémon. Pichu yelped from the attack when it made contact and fell over. That…was too easy. Shrugging, Naruto grabbed a Pokéball and tossed it at the Pichu, capturing it. He had missed the small smile on the red head's face. With Pichu captured, Naruto felt a rush of darkness, though he managed to fight it off. Taking a deep breath, he smirked as he said "That was a quick battle. That Pichu must have been weak."

"Oh, I have my reasons," she said with a smile before tossing out another Pokéball, which brought out a Growlithe. People must really like that Pokémon. Shaking his head, Naruto called out for another Night Slash. The attack was quick, as it was before. It must be because this guy was super-fast, even for an Absol. Taking a deep breath, Naruto stared and saw that Growlithe was just using Shadow Rush…It wasn't just a Shadow Pokémon like the Pichu, but it wasn't taking orders from its trainer. Doesn't this woman care at all about her Pokémon?

Growling, Naruto called out for another Night Slash, wishing that one of his attacks had been a ground type. Like dig. "Damn it, I wish you knew dig." Absol just shrugged at Naruto and attacked Growlithe. None of Growlithe's attacks did anything. It was as if they didn't want to fight at all…But why? Was there really someone that didn't want to fight him? No, they all wanted to fight…Why else would they have Shadow Pokémon? Narrowing his eyes, he called out, "Night Slash, full power!"

Absol nodded, his claws glowing a bright black as he slashed at the dog-like Pokémon causing him to fall over. With that, Naruto tossed another Pokéball at Growlithe, capturing it as well. "You're allowing me to capture your Pokémon aren't you!?" shouted Naruto, his eyes flashing under his shades. The darkness was starting to get to him, though he kept fighting it off. He couldn't afford to let it control him. Not right now! The woman just smirked and 'tsked' at Naruto as if he was nothing more than a child.

"You know, you remind me of my kid cousin. She had a habit of just rushing to things. Rushing to conclusions about people and their motivations. To you, it may seem like I'm just _giving_ you my Pokémon, but there could be a reason behind it. You should use your head, kid."

"I'm not a kid! I'm a grown man!"

"A grown man that acts like a kid."

"Shut up!" shouted Naruto, his nails growing into claws, a sure sign that he was losing to his own darkness. Inhaling, Naruto calmed his nerves, trying hard to finish this battle and get the hell out of here. "Are you the boss?!" shouted Naruto.

The woman just shook her head and replied, "No. I'm just one of the top trainers in the organization. And I'm in this for my own reasons." Her face had looked…sad, almost grim for a brief moment before it darkened as she called out yet another Pokémon. "This is my last Pokémon…How well can you handle this battle?" asked the woman with a smirk.

Naruto growled, was she taunting him? The more he thought about her, the more he wondered…he wondered about her words. He reminded her of her cousin? Shaking his head, he asked, "What's your name?"

The woman ran a hand through her hair as she said, "I'm Kiyoko Uzumaki, of the Uzumaki Clan." Naruto's eyes widened in shock. She was an Uzumaki? Then she had to know who his parents were! There had to be some answers that he could get from her! The woman called out "Ponyta, use Shadow Rush!"

The attack was quick. Absol had gone flying into a wall, though he just jumped back up to his feet and growled. "You're an Uzumaki!? Tell me, do you know my parents!?" The woman just blinked at him in confusion. She had to know something; why else would they share the same last name? The woman just crossed her arms and shrugged, as if she wasn't sure.

"What's your name kid? I might know your parents."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"Naruto…?" She sounded a little shocked at his name. So there had to be some kind of connection. Before he could ask anything, there was a loud bang. Naruto turned and saw Kurama, Kushina, and Minato coming out of the air vents. They must have finished their search. That was good, but did they find enough information? "Those Pokémon…I've seen them before…" whispered Kiyoko.

"Kushina, Kurama, Minato, did you find anything?" asked Naruto.

They nodded in response. He wondered why they only nodded, only to blink when he saw that they were staring at Kiyoko with wide eyes. Frowning, Naruto turned and stared at Kiyoko and saw that she was also shocked to see them. What the hell was going on? No! He had to focus on getting this battle over and done with! "Naruto, the Ponyta…" Naruto nodded, knowing what Hinata was trying to say as he stared at the white horse Pokémon. The fire mane and tail swayed in the gentle breeze from the window; it was ready for a fight. Though, in the Pokémon's eyes, it was telling Naruto to capture her…to get her out of this place, though he also noticed that she was…calm?

This was getting confusing. Grabbing one last Pokéball, Naruto tossed it as he said, "You're mine, Ponyta!" But as soon as he captured her, Naruto was overwhelmed. He felt like he was falling into a pit of shadows. He could faintly hear Hinata talking to him, trying to get him to relax. Growling, Naruto said, "Hinata get… away from me."

"No! You need to relax Naruto! Don't let it control you! I know you're stronger than this darkness!" she replied. Naruto growled all the more, he glared at Hinata and slashed at her, telling her that she should have listened. His claws had sliced her arm, the force of the blow causing Hinata to go flying into the wall, unconscious…

Naruto just stared at Hinata for a moment. His eyes slowly widened at what he had done to her. "I…No, why did…No…No!" He grabbed his head and screamed out in pain. His heart faded to the point where he no longer felt anything. A red aura started to surround his body and mixed with black, turning it into a dark crimson. Fangs overlapped his lower lip, and his claws grew just a little longer and sharper. His eyes turned blood red, with the whites darkening until they were black.

When he stared at the woman, he saw how scared she was. Smirking, Naruto's darkness consumed him. The power was so overwhelming that his shades cracked and chipped until they shattered. It was what he said, though, that sent chills down the woman's spine.

"I'll have fun killing all of you…"


	10. Future?

_I didn't know what I was doing. All I could remember was fighting the darkness that was coursing through me, trying hard not to let it control me. Yet, when Hinata… when I hurt Hinata I lost control and now I feel like I'll never break free… will I remain this way forever?_

Naruto just smirked as he stared at the red haired woman before him. He didn't care what he did, so long as he could spill her blood and finish her off. Flexing his claws he said "how should I kill you? Disembowelment? Ripping your heart out from your chest? Oh so many choices yet I can only pick one." He threw his head back and cackled, only for it to turn into a dark bone chilling laugh. It seemed that Naruto really was enjoying the idea of killing people.

_"Naruto snap out of it!"_ shouted Kurama.

Turning his gaze to the small Pokémon, he narrowed his red eyes before he kicked the small Pokémon into the wall. He didn't give a shit about weak Pokémon, Pokémon that refused to battle were of no use to this version of Naruto Uzumaki. Kurama went flying and slammed into the wall, whimpering out in pain. Kushina and Minato stared in shock; they didn't know what to do. What were they to do now that Naruto had fully crossed over to the darkness that had tried so hard to consume him?

_"Minato, go wake up Hinata, I'll try to get Naruto to come to his senses!"_

_"You two stay out of this fight. This is between Uzumaki's."_ said Kiyoko, shocking both Kushina and Minato. How was it that she could understand them when… no, she had to be an Uzumaki, no one else but Uzumaki's could understand and speak to Pokémon like that. Though, either way, it was better that someone did try to stop him but why would this woman care when she was the reason for this in the first place?! Yes, she's an Uzumaki but she's helping the bad guys!

_"Why should we trust you!?"_ shouted Minato with a growl.

_"You don't have much of a choice at the moment. Naruto is completely consumed by darkness and he has to fight it on his own. He can't rely on people his whole life. This is the will of his parents!"_ shouted Kiyoko with a glare before she rushed at Naruto. Knowing that she had to stop him at all costs. It was what 'they' had wanted and she was going to keep that promise… even if she had to hide the truth from him for now.

Kushina and Minato didn't look like they trusted her as of yet. But for the time being, they didn't have much of a choice, not while Naruto was still in that form. The longer he was in there, the harder it would be for him to break out of. Taking a deep breath, Minato and Kushina rushed to Hinata, hoping to get her to wake up while Kushina also tended to Kurama who was knocked out.

"Enough talk bitch! I'll rip you apart and feed you to the beasts!" Naruto said with a crazy deranged smile on his face before he charged at Kiyoko. Fist rose as he looked ready to punch her in the face. But, this woman was a lot better than she looked. But was it enough to stop Naruto and get him to come back to his senses?

Kiyoko easily stepped out of the way, her hands shot out, one grabbing his wrist and the other his elbow before throwing him over her shoulder. Her expression was calm and emotionless, as if she had gone into some kind of fighting stage where she could easily lock away her emotions. Naruto growled before jumping back up onto his feet and charged. Throwing fists, and trying to send in kicks. Though each and every time, she would dodge as if everything was in slow motion.

Kushina stared with wide eyes at the battle as it unfolds before her eyes. It seemed that her mother's side were top ranked fighters that fought on pure instinct alone rather than using tactics through the mind. Kiyoko twirled her body out of the way in time as Naruto was preparing to send in another punch. And in return, the blonde haired man got a swift kick to the face, sending him falling and sliding on the floor until he hit the wall. Though, that wasn't enough to stop him, far from it.

Growling, Naruto pushed himself to his feet again as he said "I will kill you, you stupid bitch!" He screamed out in rage before he charged at Kiyoko once more. Only to freeze at what came out of her mouth.

"If your parents saw you, they would be very disappointed." Kiyoko said with not a hint of emotion. Naruto just stared at her with wide red eyes for a brief moment. As if the old Naruto had reached the surface of the darkness that had consumed him. Only to shake his head and glared at her once more. It was obvious that Naruto wanted to have information about his parents more than anything but would it be enough to get him to escape this darkness until that girl woke up?

"Shut up! You don't know shit! They died, abandoning me! I could care less about what they think of me!" shouted Naruto as he threw punches at Kiyoko, his eyes hard as stone but within their depths, there was a consuming sadness, Naruto truly thought that he had been abandoned. Yet, he still searched for answers about where he came from and who they were. "You don't know _anything!"_ shouted Naruto.

Kiyoko and Naruto both charged at each other, as if to catch the other off guard. But that was far from it. Instead, they grabbed each other's hands and tried to shove each other away. Naruto's face was twisted in what assumed to be a glower and a crazy grin. As for Kiyoko, she just gave him a calm smile, no matter how much he would threaten; it seemed that nothing would get through to her that would cause her to be afraid of him. Kiyoko on the other hand, was holding back on her power, not wanting to hurt Naruto any more than she had even if it wasn't planned on the girl getting knocked out. She only wanted him to get a grasp on the darkness that was coursing through him so he wouldn't lose control again. Well, not all plans are perfect.

"I know enough about you and your family Naruto." Said Kiyoko, her voice and posture still calm. Though, that of course only served to piss off Naruto all the more. If this woman knew so much, maybe he should keep her alive… for now. Once he gets his answers, then well… heh… He'll kill her.

Just thinking about it made him smile with glee. Narrowing his eyes at her, he calmly said "what do you know about my family…" It wasn't a question, but a demand. He didn't care about this woman so long as he got the answers that he had been seeking for, for so long.

Kiyoko just stared at Naruto like he was nothing more than a bratty child. To her, that was all she was seeing. Naruto was nothing more than a child that couldn't control the shadows in his heart. At this rate, he might lose himself to this darkness forever and showed no sign of being able to fight it. Maybe, it was pointless to allow Naruto to live. Shaking her head, Kiyoko pulled out a dagger from her leg, concealed by her pant leg before charging at Naruto. There was nothing that she could do… but to end him.

* * *

_Naruto groaned… wondering where he was. Looking around with weak eyes, he frowned a little before pushing himself up onto his shaky legs. Where was he? He never knew this place, hell he doesn't even know where he is! The whole place is surrounded by a strange fog, was this place clouded by some mysterious force or something? Tilting his head a bit, the young man shook his head before walking on ahead. Maybe if he walked further into this place, he would find out more about this place. There had to be at least some sign of where he was… anything at all. Though, for some reason he felt like he wasn't going to find any kind of answers._

_"Minato come on please?! I want to name our son!" shouted a female's voice. Naruto blinked in shock and confusion. He knew that the people he knew didn't have that voice and yet, it sounded so familiar to him for some reason. Without thinking, the young man started to walk on ahead toward the source of the sounds. He wanted to know who they were, who these voices belonged to._

_"Kushina, we can't give him a girl's name. I want to give him the name of the hero in Master Jiraiya's book…"_

_"The name is nice Minato… and he is a hero in the book…"_

_Naruto started to run toward them. Wanting to see who these people are, to see what they were talking about? And most of all, why it felt like he knew these voices enough that it almost broke his heart hearing them. His eyes started to pool with tears as he ran toward what appeared to be a tall tree. No, it wasn't just a tree… it was… a house that was built into the trunk of the tree? Strange._

_Sitting outside of it, were the blurred images of a tall man and a woman. The woman had long hair, and the man had spiky blonde hair. That was all he could make out about them. Everything else was just too blurred for him to make any real definition of who they are. But, what he could make out was the small bundle of blue blankets in the woman's arms. His eyes wide with shock, wondering if this baby… was this baby really him?_

_Gulping, Naruto tried to take a few steps forward, but found himself unable to. It seemed like something was preventing him from doing anything but to stand and watch. Staring with wide eyes, Naruto tried to scream, tried to get them to listen to what he was saying. Though it seemed that it was not meant to be heard, for they kept on with their conversation._

_"Naruto is a nice name…" whispered the woman. So he had been right, this is a memory from his past… but, how could he remember this in the first place? If this memory was right, it was most likely that he was only a day or even a couple days old in this memory. So, how was he able to remember this in the first place? Then again, nothing made sense at this point. Staring at the image before him, his eyes filled with nothing but sadness that this was the only memory that he could… wait a minute… that woman called the man Minato… wasn't Minato also the name of Arashi's son? Not to mention his Umbreon… and, the woman… she had the same name as his Espeon. What's going on? Why… why did they share the same names as his two Pokémon?! Why?!_

_"The same reason you're falling into the darkness." Said a mysterious voice._

_Turning around, Naruto stared into the eyes of a tall man with long red hair, strong facial features, red eyes and a strange red kimono. That was a little strange; this guy must really like red. Though, what Naruto had also noticed was that he had fangs, claws and swishing tails behind him and of course, the twitching fox ears atop of his head. The hell?! "What the fuck are you?!" shouted Naruto._

_"Watch your mouth mister. I'll answer you if you ask nicely like a gentleman. Jeez, youth today lost everything that was around thousands of years ago." Said the man as he crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head._

_"Fine… please strange fox man."_

_"Good enough, my name is Kurama. I am your ancestor, and a demon."_

_"Demons aren't real."_

_"They did, but were wiped out. My bloodline along with a few others has survived into the generations of today like yours. In fact, my blood is the reason for you to be able to speak and understand Pokémon."_

_Naruto stared at him with wide eyes. He was a descendant of a demon that could… How? Why? Damn it this was all so confusing to him and he just couldn't figure this stuff out at all! Shaking his head, Naruto pointed a finger at Kurama… wait, he named his Eevee after this guy or was it just pure coincidence? Screw this! "Look, just tell me what is going on alright?! I don't know where I am, or how I even got here!" shouted Naruto with rage in his voice._

_Kurama just stared at Naruto for a moment, as if he was trying to figure something out himself. Or, maybe he was trying to think of a way to explain this to him in words that he could understand. Kurama took a few steps toward Naruto, his eyes stern, a way of saying 'just shut up and listen or else I'll beat your ass'. This, of course made Naruto gulp out of fear as he just stood there to listen to whatever it was that he had to hear from this guy._

_Kurama took a deep breath as he said "when I was alive, there was a legend about the end of the world." Naruto stared with shock. "And my bloodline would have a hand in it even if it was against their will. My whole life, I had vowed to protect humans, and I had made sure that my family had that belief drilled into their heads… But I knew that it wouldn't be enough."_

_"What do you mean it wasn't enough?" asked Naruto with a frown._

_Kurama stared at Naruto for a brief moment, carefully picking his words as he tried to explain what was to happen next in this tale of what is to come. And why he was able to understand Pokémon would be helpful as well._

_Taking a deep breath, Kurama calmly said "my bloodline has always been able to speak and understand Pokémon, but we could also connect with their hearts… but that wasn't all we could do. Because of our connection to Pokémon's hearts, we could become one with them. Use their attacks and reflect on those emotions and act upon them. I feared that the legend would happen after I was gone, so I placed a spell upon my bloodline to never appear and let the power fade into history and legend, leaving my bloodline to only speak to Pokémon. But sadly, that wasn't meant to be for the spell had weakened over time once it reached you."_

_"What?"_

_"Listen carefully to me Naruto. You mustn't allow yourself to be pulled into the darkness that are caused by the Shadow Pokémon. Or the fate of the world… the fate of the world will be nothing but destruction and death."_

_"No… I don't believe you! There is no way that could happen! Come on, it's impossible for one human to have that kind of power and to use it to destroy the world." Shouted Naruto, not wanting to believe this. Which, was true… he didn't want to believe this. There was just no way that he wanted to believe this at all. But what if it was true? What if it was true? Would he… could he really do all of that? No! "No I don't believe you! I can't believe you!"_

_"Well believe it Naruto! This is your future if you remain in darkness! If you fall so easily to the darkness!" shouted Kurama, with a flick of his wrist the fog started to disappear. As did the faded images of his parents… and what he saw in their place was enough to make his blood run cold. He saw the cities and towns from above, there was nothing left. Smoke rose from the remains of buildings, like they had just been destroyed just moments ago._

_But it was the figure in the middle of this all was what caused him to stare in shock. It was him, and he was laughing like a mad man. His body looking just like Hinata had described to him once on how he looked… but this time, he looked more feral. More dangerous, more like a wild beast that wanted to shed blood. He was laughing like a crazy man and shot out strange blasts from the palm of his hand. Shaking his head, he said "no… no this can't be happening! Why is this happening!?" Suddenly, his eyes widened for a moment as he looked around at the surrounding area._

_Looking over at Kurama, eyes wide and filled with fear of what the answer was going to be. But he had to ask anyway… "What happened to Hinata, Kushina, Minato and… and Kurama? My Kurama…" He asked softly, he had to know; he just had to know what had happened to them. Why weren't they out in this vision to stop him? To try to get him to come back to his senses! There had to be something, anything that he could do to get him to return to normal!_

_The look in Kurama's eyes was filled with grief and horror. Just the look was enough to make Naruto regret his question. Kurama took a deep breath, his arms falling to his sides as if just the answer drained him of all of his energy. "You killed them all when they tried to save you. Naruto, they were the first of your victims… you enjoyed killing them."_

_Naruto remained silent before falling to his knees. No… how could that have happened? Why? Why did they have to…? Damn it… Damn it! Naruto wanted to stop this from happening; he wanted to prevent this future from happening and to keep his friends safe from this happening. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto looked up at Kurama as he tried to ask what he could do to stop this from happening. Though, it seemed that he couldn't bring himself to allow this from happening._

_"Naruto… the necklace that you found has magical properties. So long as you keep it with you, and the other half is near you are able to stay you for it keeps you balanced. That is how you'll remain yourself Naruto. Humans are to have inner balance. You though, you're losing that balance. Your body is only being infused with the shadows or other known as the Yin… and the girl holds the Yang piece of your necklace. When both pieces are together you'll find your inner balance. Believe me on that."_

_Naruto looked down for a moment. Wondering if there was something that he could do that could prevent that future from happening. Was there another part of the prophecy that would give him a hint to prevent that terrible future from happening? Though, maybe he just wanted to be hopeful, hoping for a chance to have a positive future instead of a negative one. Taking a deep breath, Naruto slowly pushed himself up onto his feet wanting to keep himself calm and relaxed but it almost seemed impossible at this point. Though, Kurama's words stopped him._

_Kurama calmly said "there was… one last piece of the prophecy that I didn't understand…" Naruto stared up at him with shock. Okay, it was a little weird that he was just wishing for more of the prophecy and now just hearing that there was more that was sure strange, that was for sure. "Two must unite, Yin to Yang, light, and darkness. Love shall save, while hate shall destroy."_

_"Wow… that didn't rhyme…"_

_"It isn't about rhyming all the time Naruto. Focus… look, the main point is that you must be careful. For whatever that means, one choice will save the world while the other destroys it. You must be careful or everything shall end." Great… what he needed… pressure. Shaking his head, the young man knew that this was going to be a tough thing to deal with. Now… how was he going to get out of this?_

* * *

"Naruto, you have to snap out of it." Calmly said Kiyoko after punching Naruto in the face. It seemed that no matter what, he just wouldn't return to normal. In fact, the shadows were getting stronger and stronger the longer he stayed in this form. But, what would be enough to get Naruto to snap out of his control in the first place? Shaking her head, the young woman charged once more. She had to hurry up before it was too late, and before it got to the point where she had to kill Naruto just to save the world before it was too late to do anything.

Meanwhile, Kushina walked over to Hinata and licked her face. Hinata just grunted for a moment. It seemed that she really was starting to come around. Though, it was weird how Minato tried just about everything to wake her up, and yet she was able to wake up the blue haired woman with just a simple lick? That… that was just sad in a sense… though it seemed that Hinata was slowly starting to open her eyes.

"I'll rip you apart bitch!" shouted Naruto.

Kushina looked back at Naruto and stared with terror in her eyes. They had to hurry up and wake Hinata before it was too late. If anyone could get Naruto to return to normal, it was her. Kushina yipped and yelped at Hinata, hoping that would get the blue haired woman to wake up faster than ever. Turning back to Naruto, the psyche Pokémon stared at Naruto as he started to slash at the red haired woman. A few cuts appeared on her face and shirt though Kiyoko didn't show any sign of pain. Even Kiyoko could only last so long in a battle even without her emotions showing on her face.

So, Kushina did the only thing that she could do. She gave Hinata a good head butt attack to the face. Hinata yelped and held her face in pain before looking up at the small Pokémon in front of her. "Kushina? What's going on?" said Hinata with confusion.

"Finally! I've got you!" shouted Naruto.

Hinata looked up and stared in shock. Naruto had Kushina pinned down, his hand wrapped around her throat ready to kill. Though that wasn't how he was going to do it… his hand poised high, looking ready to cut her before finishing her off. Gasping, the young woman pushed herself on her shaky legs and ran toward Naruto.

As for Naruto, his smile was wide and dark. His desire to kill grew, as did the darkness. It seemed almost as if he was ready to finish off what he had started… now, he didn't give a damn about finding out who his parents were or where they were. Nothing else mattered but to kill, to spill blood and see the life fade from people's eyes. He couldn't help but laugh at that. "How does it feel bitch?! How does it feel to lose to… oh what did you call me? A child… yes… you called me a child." He smirked before pressing more on Kiyoko's wind pipe.

Suddenly, he felt something on his back, and something wrapping around his body and held onto his chest. Turning his head, he stared at a blue haired woman. He knew her from somewhere but at the moment he couldn't recall who she was. Growling, he released his hold on Kiyoko and tried to get the blue haired woman off of him. "Get off!" shouted Naruto with a growl."

"No! Naruto, I won't let go until you return to normal!" shouted Hinata, tears streaming down her face as she tried to get him to return to normal. Sniffling, the young woman said "Naruto stop this please! You promised that you would make up for your past! You said you wanted to protect me and those around you. You wanted to protect Pokémon and save them from becoming Shadow Pokémon. Please Naruto! Snap out of it!"

Naruto growled more, trying to get Hinata to let go of him, but her arms just tightened all the more. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto screamed out "let go of me or I'll kill you!" He broke free of Hinata and turned toward her, lifting his clawed hands as he got ready to rip her apart. Only to blink in shock when Hinata threw herself at the shocked blonde haired man. The force from her weight had knocked him over causing him to groan slightly before looking up at Hinata for a moment. Growling, he said "get… off of me, if you do I won't kill you."

Hinata slowly lifted her head, staring at Naruto with tear filled lavender coloured eyes. Sniffling, she whispered "Naruto… please stop this. This isn't you… you're kind, caring… gentle… you act tough because you're afraid of being hurt and abandoned like you already do. You're not alone… I know you're not. I'm still here, so are Kushina, Minato and Kurama." He just stared at her with wide eyes, tears started to pool in his own eyes for a brief moment as if he was finally starting to come around.

"H… Hinata…?"

"Yes Naruto… it's me… please… please just come back. You're not a killer, you're not a monster… you're a hero to me, and Pokémon." Hinata said in a gentle voice. She slowly got off of Naruto and helped him to sit up, never once letting go of him. Naruto just stared at him with wide eyes for a moment. His eyes still filling with tears as they slowly returned into their ocean blue colour. "Naruto… you… you came back." She said, happy tears filling her eyes and falling.

Though, as Naruto returned to normal, the feelings and memories of what had happened started to fill his mind. Causing himself to break down. He tightly held onto Hinata and started to cry. He just couldn't… couldn't believe that he had said… and felt all of that. He was disgusted with himself… he knew that he had to go and stop Kiyoko but sadly, she had left while Hinata tried to snap him out of his darkness. For the time being… Naruto just cried while he held Hinata in his arms… and Hinata gently patting his back hoping that would calm him.


	11. Cave In

_I didn't know how long I held onto Hinata… all I could remember was that I had broken down with the memory of what I had said and done. I wouldn't be surprised if Kurama never spoke to me again for kicking him. But, what I had discovered while in my memories was surprising enough… that I could use the attacks of Pokémon just because I could connect with them but how the hell was that possible? None of this was making sense to me at all! Damn it… though, maybe I'll figure something out after getting Arashi's Pokémon back… maybe anyway._

Naruto didn't know how long he held onto Hinata. All he cared about was to have something to keep him from disappearing into that darkness again. Just the feeling of the darkness worried him, and caused him to fear for not only himself but for Hinata as well. Was the Kurama that had spoken to him right? If he allowed that darkness to… to control him like that, that this world would fall? Maybe, though if it was true then there was also a chance to save it, and he was going to take that chance when it arose. At least, he hoped that it would arise…

Pulling back, Naruto's bangs covered his eyes from Hinata. Though, it was easy to see that he was still upset about the whole ordeal. "Naruto, are you okay?" came Hinata's concerned voice. Naruto just shrugged, not really wanting her to worry about him. He didn't deserve any kind of kindness towards him. If he ever transformed like that again, there could be a chance that he'd hurt Hinata again, maybe even kill her.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto wiped his eyes, wanting to stop the flow of tears as they stained his face. His eyes a little swollen and red from crying though, otherwise he seemed fine. On the outside anyway, inside, he was feeling guilt and remorse for what was going on with him. Yes, the darkness gave him some hint, some sort of clue as to who his parents are. But sadly, it didn't give him a hint to where that place was. He knew that it was familiar to him but jeez… he just couldn't think on where it was.

Looking away, he whispered "let's get going… we have someone's ass to kick." Pushing himself up to his feet, the young man took a deep breath as he tried to get himself to relax. Knowing fully well that if he didn't relax or mentally prepare himself that there would be a chance that he wouldn't be able to control himself if he started to transform again.

Naruto took a deep breath, hoping that would calm his nerves. He gently picked up Kurama and asked Hinata to hold onto him. For, at the moment he didn't trust himself to hold onto the small Pokémon. Thinking that if he did, that he would somehow hurt him even more than he already was from the kick, just thinking about it made him sick to his stomach. There was just nothing that he could do about the darkness that would try to consume him…

Shaking his head, Naruto tried to get himself to relax. That was all he should focus on right about now. He had to make sure that nothing else happens, so long as Hinata and his friends were safe, than he had nothing to worry about right? Right? Frowning in deep thought, he couldn't help but wonder what Kiyoko meant by 'his parents will'… Did she know his parents? If so, what really happened to them?

"Naruto you sure that you're okay?" asked Hinata.

Blinking, he turned and stared at the concerned eyes of Hinata. Frowning, he turned away from Hinata, he can't look at her. Not without picturing her limp and lifeless body in his arms. Gulping, Naruto nodded his head, refusing to say that he was fine. Knowing fully well, that if he spoke that his voice would betray him, and confess that he was far from just 'fine'. As they walked out of the small room that resided on the roof, Naruto looked over to the side and saw a cave. It wasn't guarded. Strange… why wouldn't anyone have that guarded or even blocked off?

Shaking his head, Naruto rushed on inside. He had to hurry up and finish his mission or else there was no telling what could happen to Arashi's Riolu. Running as fast as he could, Kushina and Minato both at his sides as he ran. He knew that they were hiding something from him… but what that was, he couldn't be sure.

Taking a deep breath, the young man tried to think on what he should do. He had to come up with a plan in order to get Riolu out of there… hm… "Hinata, I need you to battle the boss here for me. I can't… I'm sorry but if he has another Shadow Pokémon, I can't handle another capture of it today or I might go insane once again." Hinata just stared at him with confusion and sadness. She was about to say something, as if to protest. Her lips stayed sealed when Naruto gave her a stern look. "Please Hinata. I can't capture anymore Pokémon today, I will lose my mind, I'll lose my sense of self… my body needs to relax and adjust to the new Shadow Pokémon that I have right now. Even now, I can feel the darkness stirring within my heart. It almost feels like…" He closed his eyes, not wanting to think about it… think about the only other time he had been nothing but a mindless servant to someone of a higher power.

"Like what?" asked Hinata with concern in her voice.

Looking over at Hinata, Naruto's eyes were willed with fear and sadness. She still didn't know about his past and… not telling her, for some reason was ripping him apart inside. Was keeping this secret good for either of them? Doesn't she have a right to know that all this time, that Hinata had been traveling with a crook? A snagger? Taking a deep breath, Naruto stopped walking for a moment, just wanting to think of his words carefully.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing just… damn it Hinata, I… I feel like I don't trust you."

"Huh, but why?"

Looking at her, Naruto gave her sad blue eyes; he never noticed how beautiful she was before. Why? Had he been that consumed by darkness and trying to redeem himself that he… he just over looked everything? Hinata didn't just have a beautiful face but a beautiful soul to match. Looking away, he whispered "I feel that way, because I didn't full answer your question when we ran into Team Snagem."

Hinata just frowned. "You told me that you would never share your past with me." She calmly said. Naruto gave a sad smile before he let out a sad sigh. Yes, that was true; he didn't want to share his past with anyone, fearing that if he did that the person to listen would also taint them as well with his words alone. But, he couldn't keep doing this to Hinata. He just couldn't…

Taking a deep breath, Naruto whispered "I was part of Team Snagem once. They found me when I was very young. I don't know everything yet but, they took me in, and trained me. When they learned of my abilities to speak with Pokémon, they wanted to use me as a weapon." Hinata gasped softly, Naruto knew that this had to be shocking for her to listen. It was better that she knew the truth, and made a choice to stay with him… or run away and never see him again. Leaning against the stone wall of the cave, Naruto went on with his story.

"They trained me; they beat me if I went against them. For years, I ended up becoming a mindless weapon." Tightening his hands into fists, Naruto took a deep breath before turning his gaze to Hinata. She just stared at him with fear mixed with sadness and a hint of anger. Was the anger directed at him? He had a feeling that it was, not that he could really blame her. Giving a dry laugh, he said "they trained me how to steal, how to sneak or break into people's homes. Even how to crack safes or decode passwords. I could do everything a normal thief could do Hinata…" Tightly shutting his eyes, Naruto gritted his teeth as he tried to keep himself calm and relaxed. But it seemed that no matter what he does, it would do him no good. "When I started to return to my senses… I started to feel guilt over what I've been doing. Stealing Pokémon just because I'm told to do? To steal things because it's part of my mission? I got tired of it. So, I broke into the lab… stole the Snag Machine, destroyed all the files to create one and I printed files of how Team Snagem found me. After that, well… that was about around the time I met you."

Pushing himself away from the wall, Naruto started to walk on ahead. Thinking that maybe, it was best that Hinata doesn't stay with him. That she should go on home and move on with her life, without him in it. _'It's for the best… it's for her, I cannot be selfish and force her to stay with me.'_ thought Naruto to himself as he kept on walking.

Suddenly, Naruto felt two arms snaking around his waist, and something soft pressing into his back. Eyes widening, he realised what was pressing into his back. Hinata's breasts. Blushing crimson, he tried to keep himself calm as he asked "what… what are you doing?"

"You've been through so much Naruto. You look like any other person that didn't go through any hardships but, you've been through so much that a normal man would have broken down from." Hinata whispered gently. Naruto's eyes were wide for a moment, only to soften. "Your hardships though, are the things that have made you strong Naruto." She said in a gentle voice, enough so to cause Naruto's eyes to widen in shock. Have his hardships really made him strong? The blonde young man couldn't really be sure of that but at the moment… he felt lighter.

"Thanks Hinata… to be honest, I didn't think that you'd stay."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because I'm a criminal."

"I don't see that, all I see is a man trying to redeem himself… Naruto, just because your past was dark, doesn't mean that your future or you have to be." Funny Hinata had mentioned his future. There was a high chance of his future being dark if he didn't fulfill the prophecy or whatever it was to give him, and this world a bright and cheerful future. Wait a minute…

"Where's Kurama? Weren't you holding him?"

"Oh, I set him on Kushina."

Looking over, Naruto saw that Kurama was indeed resting on Kushina's back. That was something, so the little guy could have at least some kind of rest. Staring at Hinata, he knew that this was going to be tough, she would have to be careful when battling… whoever it was that they would fight. Taking a deep breath, Naruto tried to mentally prepare himself. He had to be ready, he had to be sure that he would be able to… wait a minute why was he thinking that he'd have to be sure… he knew damn well that he could break into anything!

Suddenly Naruto had walked smack into a wall. Not just any wall, but something made of steel. Groaning, Naruto fell over and rubbed his face. "Damn it that hurts!" shouted Naruto before jumping to his feet and looking up. Okay, so it wasn't a wall that he walked into, but a steel sliding door. Did that mean that he and Hinata had arrived to their destination? Blinking, Naruto pressed his ear against the door, wondering if there would be at least a sound to tell him that someone, anyone would be inside. He could hear the sound of whimpering, the sound of a clang, as if someone had hit something hard with an object of steel.

"Quite you!" shouted a voice from within the room. That was more than enough to tell Naruto that someone was definitely inside.

Taking a few steps back, Naruto narrowed his eyes at the steep door, getting ready to kick some ass. Though, in this case, kick down a door. Staring at the door, Naruto tried to think on a weak point on the door so he could take it down. He wasn't a hundred percent sure though if it would work since he's never done this before. "Naruto what are you doing? Why don't you check if the door is even unlocked?" asked Hinata with confusion.

"Good point Hinata, but my way is better."

"Why?"

"Because it's cooler to kick down a door."

Hinata just sighed and let Naruto do what he had to do. Naruto of course charged at the door, jumping into the air and slammed his boot into the door. It almost looked like a high jump kick in a way. With the force of the hit, Naruto had managed to snap the door from the frame and fell toward the floor. Naruto was amazed that he had been able to muster so much power and strength into a kick like that but hey, he wasn't complaining at the moment. Looking into the room, Naruto gasped when he saw man that stood in the room.

The man was tall, long black hair tied back into a low ponytail. His eyes were a dark onyx colouring. His clothing was a white button down shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Not something he would expect of a bad guy to wear. In fact, it almost seemed like he was a good guy… though, Naruto knew that was wrong for he could feel the darkness that was flooding this room.

The man turned and stared at Naruto and Hinata, his eyes looking bored though they had a small glint within their depths, as if he was hiding a great secret. "Who are you?" demanded Naruto. The man just raised an eyebrow at Naruto, as if he was nothing more than a spoiled child about to throw a tantrum. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto shouted "tell me right now damn it!" Suddenly, the man appeared before Naruto, his eyes still shining with that glint before he slammed his fist into Naruto's stomach. The blonde young man screamed as he flew into the stone wall. Wrapping his arms around his stomach, Naruto fell onto his side and coughed up a bit of blood. Damn it, this guy was tough.

"My name is Itachi Uchiha… and I shall be your opponent if you think you can take me on." Said the man with a smirk before he reached into his pocket and held a strange pokéball. It had the usual white bottom but the top was orange with yellow stripes at the sides. Was it a fast ball? Whatever it was, Naruto could sense the darkness within it. It had to be a Shadow Pokémon.

Groaning, Naruto turned to Hinata when she had reached him, whispering "ready Hinata? I need you to distract him long enough for me to break out Riolu…" Hinata nodded, though she looked a little nervous. She was used to Naruto doing all of the battling but at the moment, it didn't seem that she had much of a choice with this. Taking a deep breath, she walked back into the room and removed the pokéball from her earring as she called out for her fighting type Pokémon. Riolu!

Riolu emerged from its pokéball and stretched while yawning. Seemed Riolu is happy to be out after so long, well not including the times Hinata let her out to have some food and what not. Riolu narrowed her eyes at Itachi, just itching for a good battle that was to come. Naruto of course, was waiting for the right moment to break into the back to get Arashi's Riolu; he had to make sure that he didn't get himself caught before it was too late.

Itachi just smirked as he got himself ready to beat this little girl. He tossed the fast ball and emerging from the bright light was a tall and slim Pokémon. The Pokémon was a Quilava, the top half of Quilava's body is blue and the lower half creamy-colour, its entire body is slim and it is a quadruped. It also has triangular ears with red-coloured insides. Possessing a small, more rounded nose and its eyes are red. It has five red-coloured spots on its body in which it projects flame at will, two in a somewhat exclamation-mark shape on its forehead and three lined up horizontally on its rear.

Hinata gulped a bit, but at least Riolu knew some moves that could easily beat a fire-type. But, would it be enough to beat one that is surrounded by the dark aura? Dear god she hoped it would be. "Riolu use dig!" shouted Hinata.

Naruto of course, took that chance to get through. He had to get to the back room. Looking over at Kushina, he whispered _"I need you to come with me, leave Kurama with Minato. I might need your help with this." _Kushina nodded and gently used her tail to pick up the still sleeping Kurama and set him down with Minato. For the time being, she would be on a mission to break out a Pokémon.

Kushina and Naruto ran to the back room… well, more like they walked along the walls, making sure that they stayed hidden in the shadows. Though, Naruto had to admit he thought that he'd be caught lots of times since his hair was blonde, and blonde was… well, such an easy colour to spot.

As he walked along the walls, Naruto kept on seeing flashes of red in his vision. The sound of people screaming and crying echoed in his ears. When he looked around, he saw that Hinata was still fighting Itachi, though no blood was spilt nor was there any screaming. What was going on? Shaking his head, the young man shook his head, looking to the back as he kept on moving toward it. He had to get to the back and fast, he had no idea how long Hinata would last in a Pokémon battle. "Thunder Punch!" shouted Hinata. Naruto looked ahead and stared as her Riolu not only emerged from the ground and hit the Quilava, but also slammed its little fist into the fire-type Pokémon's face.

Okay, he had to admit, Hinata knew what she was doing.

Looking back to his destination, he noticed that he was in the back of the room. Taking a deep breath, Naruto reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a pick and a couple other tools to unlock a door. Looking at the door, Naruto started to pick the lock, being careful not to give a huge sign that he was back here.

Hinata called out "drain punch!" Riolu howled as its fist glowed green and slammed into Quilava. Naruto shook his head; he had to keep his focus on trying to unlock this damn door! Growling softly, Naruto reached into his pocket for another tool he could use to unlock this thing. Though, no matter what tool he uses the door just didn't want to unlock! Growling, Naruto slammed his fist into the steel door only to blink that it fell over…

"Well…"

_"That was strange…"_

_"Yeah… oh well, got it open… Just wished I knew how I did that."_ said Naruto before rushing into the room. He could sense a small Pokémon, so that was a good sign, not to mention that it was weak… that, was a bad sign. Running all the more, Naruto reached the room though frowned a bit. If the Pokémon was back here… how did he hear the sound of steel hitting steel and a whimper? That was a mystery…

Rushing to the back room, Naruto gasped when he saw a small and shaking Pokémon. It looked just like Hinata's Riolu but this one… instead of the usual red eyes, its eyes were blue and it had two spiky ears instead of the smooth triangle ears. It seemed that this was a slightly rare Pokémon. Shaking his head, the young man gently lift the Pokémon in his arms as he said _"it's okay, you're safe…" _The Pokémon looked up and blinked at Naruto with wide eyes. Why did he seemed so surprised and-

Before he could go on with his thought, Naruto felt the ground shake beneath his feet. Gasping, he ran out of the room. "Hinata! What's going on!?" shouted Naruto. When he looked over to Hinata, he saw that Riolu must have used Earth Quake! Damn it, he had a feeling that this place couldn't support the attack! Rushing quickly, he called back Kushina and Minato into their pokéballs, as did Hinata with Riolu and grabbed Kurama and held him gently in her arms.

"I'm sorry Naruto! I didn't know this was going to happen!" shouted Hinata as they ran.

"Don't talk! Just keep running!" shouted Naruto as the cave started to collapse within.


	12. Back On The Road

******Note: I made a mistake in the last chapter that I didn't catch in time, Riolu's eyes AKA: Blade are not red but blue, sorry for any confusion.**_  
_

_It was tough getting out of that place, but we had made it… somehow. I'm still confused about the sudden strength I have but I'm not complaining much. It did after all get us Riolu. Though, what I didn't really understand, was the strange visions I've been getting… maybe, it has something to do with the past, but whatever is causing them, they're getting stronger and stronger. Just, just what could the images and sounds that flash through my mind be trying to tell me!?_

Naruto and Hinata groaned as they ran out of the cave. Just thankful that they had managed to escape with their lives, though Naruto wondered what had happened to Itachi. At the moment though, Naruto was just happy to have grabbed Riolu from that place and to bring him back to Arashi. Looking back at Hinata, he saw that her face was a little red from all the running they had to do, her heart was beating so loud that he could clearly hear it from where he was standing. She gasped for breath, her one hand on her shaky knee as she tried to get herself to relax. Had to have been one hell of a run for her to be this tired.

"You… alright?" asked Hinata between wheezing breaths.

Naruto nodded, unable to speak for the time being, worn out himself. Though, he knew that right now Riolu had to head on home. Arashi had to still be waiting for them to come back. Riolu looked up at Naruto and tilted his head. As if he was trying to figure out where he's seen him before. _"I've seen you before…"_ said Riolu while blinking his innocent blue eyes at Naruto, the spiky ears twitching against the blonde man's cheek.

Naruto looked down and frowned in confusion. How could this Pokémon have seen him before when he never met this Riolu before in his life? Shaking his head, Naruto calmly said _"sorry little guy, but I don't remember meeting you." _The small Pokémon just frowned before shrugging and jumping out of Naruto's arms and stretched. Naruto was a little confused, the more he looks at Riolu, the more he notices that the small Pokémon wasn't hurt at all. In fact, he seems fine. Is there something that he was missing?

"Naruto? Hinata?"

Both young adults turned and saw Arashi rushing towards them. His eyes wide with worry and concern, soon though that had changed into relief when he saw that none of them were hurt. Naruto just gave the old man a thumbs up and a big grin. As if saying that the mission was a success. Even though he had failed to capture the Shadow Pokémon, Naruto knew that he had done a good deed by saving this Riolu. Nothing was wrong with that, though he still had so many questions, questions about the strange visions he's been having the more he seems to battle or the more he encounters people that he feels like he's met them before somehow. Though at the moment, he didn't have time to think about that, he had to get himself and Hinata a pair of goggles and head over to the next town. Maybe there would be some more answers for him there.

"Blade!" shouted Arashi with a smile on his face. The tiny Pokémon smiled before jumping into the older man's arms and nuzzling his chest. It must have been a while since they've seen each other. Either way, it was such a tender moment enough to bring a tear to one's eye. Naruto of course tried to hide his own tears at the scene. Wanting to keep the tough guy act, even for a moment. Though sadly, it seemed that wasn't meant to be for Hinata elbowed him in the side as if saying 'I know your crying'.

Okay, so maybe it was too late to keep the fact that he can cry a secret from Hinata… but he could have at least have kept it a secret from Arashi. Come on, the guy is tough as nails… though not including this very moment.

Suddenly, Riolu/Blade jumped from Arashi's arms and stood in front of Naruto with wide blue eyes. His smile was bright and friendly. Arashi blinked in confusion as if he was trying to figure out what Blade was trying to do, or even trying to say. Suddenly, what Riolu said had caused Naruto to go into shock. _"I want to go with you; I want to stop people from using Pokémon like machines. Please let me come with you Mina- I mean Naruto."_

Naruto stared at the Pokémon with wide eyes. How was it possible that… wait, had he been about to call him Minato? Okay, what is with that? There is no way that he could look like this 'Minato' person… unless; there was more to it than he thinks. Either way, he had to keep going… but could he bring Blade with him on this journey when he didn't belong to Naruto in the first place? Looking up at Arashi, he said "Blade wants to come with me… but, I don't know if I should after all… he's yours."

Arashi gave a small smile, the kind of smile that a grandfather would give to his grandchild. He didn't know why Arashi was staring at him like that, but what he did know is that it made Naruto feel weird to be given that kind of smile. What Arashi said, confused him completely… "You can take Blade with you, I trusted you to save him, so why shouldn't I trust you to look after him?" After he said that, the old man reached into his pocket and pulled out Blade's pokéball before handing it to Naruto. "Take good care of him Naruto." He smiled a bit, causing Naruto to smile in return.

It wouldn't be so bad to raise a Riolu… in fact, Naruto always wanted one because he finds their attacks to be amazing, not to mention their speed and agility. Though, his favourites were still the Eevee evolutions than anything else. "Blade return," said Naruto, causing a beam of red light to shoot out of the pokéball and engulfing Blade before he was placed into his pokéball. Looking down at the smooth object in his hand, he wondered if he would be able to take care of his Pokémon, ever since the vision he had with that demon guy, he… he's been having doubts about himself. Not to mention, he worries about Hinata's life.

"One last thing Naruto… Hinata, you both ride a hover bike correct?"

"Yeah, why?" said Naruto with confusion.

Arashi chuckled before holding out two pairs of goggles. One, looked almost like Naruto's old pair though the strap was red, and the eye pieces just covered his eyes though were tinted so dark that it reminded him of those one way mirrors. They would come in handy to cover his eyes changed on him while talking to Pokémon. Looking over, he looked at the second pair; the pieces mostly just covered the eyes, the lenses wrapped around in a soft looking material that wouldn't irritate the wearer. The lenses were clear though the strap was lavender as were the material that rimmed the glass.

All Naruto could think was how cool they looked though he didn't care what they looked like. Smiling, he took the pair with the dark glass and slid it over his head and over his eyes to test it out. Wow… dark yes though not too dark to block his vision. The young man could clearly see Hinata grab the other pair and put them on. She frowned a bit wondering why hers wasn't dark.

"Press the left side of the goggles Hinata," said Arashi with a chuckle.

Hinata did just that, and before she knew it the glass darkened to black. So, they could also act as sun glasses while they were on the road. That would come in handy. Looking back at Arashi, Naruto said "thanks for everything Arashi. But, if I may ask… why are you giving us these?"

Arashi sighed softly as he said "well, I guess you could say that I wanted to return your kindness but, also to do something nice in my son's place."

"Huh?"

"It's nothing Naruto. Just head on to the next town, there you just might find the answers that you seek there."

Naruto frowned, how would Arashi know that he was seeking answers to anything? Shrugging that mentally to himself, he turned to Hinata as he said "I'm ready to go, you?" Hinata looked up at Naruto and just smiled at him before nodding.

"I'm ready to go Naruto." She said with a sweet and tender smile. It was enough to make Naruto's heart skip a beat and his face to grow red and hot. Gulping, he gently wrapped his hand around Hinata's forearm and started to head on to the bike. Though, he had missed what Arashi had said…

"Do you see him Minato? I had thought that he had died long ago with you and Kushina… but, I guess that wasn't the case. He grew up into the kind of man that you both hoped he would become. I bet your both very proud of him, as am I to be very proud of my grandson." Arashi said with a smile, tears brimming the edges of his eyes.

* * *

Naruto drove on through the desert. He didn't know how long it was going to take to get to the next town. But, from what he had heard, Hinata has her god mother there along with someone who was the god father for a friend of her family's. Then, of course it was also where Hinata's family lives. Though, why did it feel like he had a bad feeling coming around? Frowning, he shook his head, trying to ignore it but the chill… the chill that he was feeling wouldn't leave him alone.

As he rode off, Naruto tried to keep his mind focused on the drive, but it seemed his mind wanted to be in other places. Flashes of red, green, and blonde danced in his vision. Screams and strange sounds echoed through his ears. Naruto's hand tightly gripped the handles of his bike as he tried to ignore the visions. But it seemed that they were taking over his vision. He could see something… it was white cloth… a jacket? Whose jacket could it be? He didn't know what was going on but he wanted this all to stop.

The voices echoed through his mind, he couldn't decipher them but what he could make out, was that it belonged to a woman. Gritting his teeth, Naruto heard the sounds of flesh being ripped apart, the sound of agony and pain. Naruto tried to get it all to stop! Why wouldn't these visions leave him alone?! Wasn't it bad enough that he sees these even a little bit and now he was seeing even more than he wanted to see!

_"Naruto!"_ a voice echoed through his vision.

_'Who… who's yelling for me?'_ thought Naruto, trying to figure out who the voice belonged to. But it seemed that he just couldn't think, his mind was fading into the vision. Or was it a memory? Whatever it was, he didn't know and it was starting to piss him off at the moment.

_"Naruto watch out!"_

That was when the vision vanished, for as soon as he came around, his bike was heading toward a sand hill. He didn't have much time to turn, hell he didn't have time at all. For his bike had hit the sand hill, causing Naruto, Hinata, and Kurama (who had been sitting on Hinata's lap) to fly off of the bike and roll on the sand. Hinata of course, made sure to shield Kurama of the fall, wanting to make sure that he didn't get hurt.

Naruto grunted in pain softly as he rolled onto his stomach from the crash. Damn, that had hurt like hell though. Pushing himself up, he looked around, hoping that he could at least find Hinata and Kurama. He couldn't bear to lose him, knowing that it was his fault that this had happened. Damn it, why was this happening in the first place? Moaning, Naruto pushed himself up onto his shaky legs and started to look at the area. There had to be some indication to where Hinata and Kurama fell right?

Sniffing the air, Naruto hoped that maybe he could track them by scent- wait, why would he need to track them by scent? He's never had to do that before had he? Nah… he didn't remember if he could or not. Right now though, he had to focus on finding Hinata and Kurama.

As he searched, the young man's mind started to race. He kept thinking on what could have happened to Hinata. Such as did she hit her head and pass out? Did she have a serious head wound? Or worse, was there something sharp out here and Hinata had been stabbed by it?! _'Please let her and Kurama be okay!'_ thought Naruto with fear. Gulping, he ran faster around the area, praying, hoping, and begging that she wasn't hurt! "Hinata answer me!" shouted Naruto.

"Naruto…?" whimpered a voice.

"Hinata!"

Naruto rushed toward where the bike had crashed, he must have flown pretty far for only Hinata and Kurama to land near the bike. Though, at the moment he didn't give a damn how far he flew, all that mattered was that they were both safe. That was all that mattered to him right now. As soon as he had reached them, Naruto sighed in relief when he only saw a few scraps on Hinata and the small Pokémon that was still in her arms. Nothing too serious so, he was happy about that, though he still felt bad for crashing like he did, he would have to check the hover function on the bike to see if it survived the crash.

"Naruto… are you okay?" asked Hinata as she gently rubbed her forehead, her other arm gently holding Kurama who looked like he was in a little bit of shock.

"Yeah… I'm fine, I don't know why… I'm sorry." He was unable to figure out how he had let this happen. It seemed that the visions were getting worse and worse and he had no idea how to stop them. Looking back at his bike, he sighed before walking over to it, and flipping it back right side up. Frowning a bit, he checked the engine and checked to see if the hover function would work properly. Sadly, that didn't seem like the case. He'd have to risk and ride the normal function for the bike to get to the next town. Great, just great.

Shaking his head, the young man calmly said "we won't be able to travel with hover mode. We'll have to keep going through ground mode."

_"Alright Naruto but let Hinata drive!"_ shouted Kurama.

_"Why?"_ asked Naruto in confusion.

_"Think of it this way Naruto okay? You were driving, you started freaking out so to speak, you didn't see the sand hill and CRASHED! You are NOT driving and risking our lives today thank you very much! Get Hinata to drive damn it or so help me I'll claw your hands so bad you CAN'T hold into the damn handles!"_ shouted Kurama, his eyes narrowed into slits. This was the first time he's seen Kurama this angry, and it sorta freaked him out to a new level.

But he knew that Kurama was right.

Sighing softly, the young man walked over to Hinata and handed her the keys. "I hope you know how to drive Hinata…" said Naruto with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. Hinata of course, just nodded and gave him a bright smile. Naruto wasn't all too sure if Hinata could drive but… well what did he have to lose right?

* * *

It took them a few hours, but they made it. Naruto had been surprised that she knew how to drive his bike, not that he was complaining. Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of the side car and stretched. He felt like his legs had fallen asleep and he _hated_ it when that happens. Sighing softly, Naruto looked around wondering where they were. Strange thing was, he had a chill going up his spine.

"You okay Naruto?" asked Hinata.

"F-Fine… I just had… a strange chill that's all." He said, hoping to sound calm right about now. Though, the chill just wouldn't leave him alone. In fact, it seemed to be increasing and getting stronger the further he walked into the village with Hinata. Looking around, he saw that the town was lush, almost like it was a town within a forest, protected by dense trees.

For some reason, Naruto felt like he's been here before. "Hinata… what is this place?" asked Naruto softly, not sure why that was. Taking a deep breath, the young man started to walk through the town with Hinata, trying hard to ignore the chill that was coursing through his body. It almost felt like something was forcing its way into his mind, as if trying to get him to see something.

Naruto looked around, staring at all the people they walk by. They all looked so happy and carefree. As if they didn't know that the world was in danger with the Shadow Pokémon around. Maybe that was for the best, best for them not to know, for them not to notice at all. Though, is it right to lie to people just so they could keep their inner peace? Maybe, though that was just something Naruto was trying to convince himself of.

Finally, Hinata's voice snapped him out of it. "It's called Konoha." She said with a smile before looking up at the blonde haired man. Though, when she saw the colouring of Naruto's skin, she frowned a little in confusion. "You okay? Your skin looks really white…"

"I'm fine… just… dizzy." He whispered softly.

Though sadly, that wasn't the case. Naruto felt like his head was going to split open. Flashes of red and screams started to echo through his mind once more. Stronger than before, enough for Naruto to end up blocking out all sounds and sight that surrounds him. Hinata stared at Naruto, trying to get him to snap out of it. But it seemed that he wasn't going to come around.

"Hinata!?" shouted two voices, causing her to turn and stare at two people who were heading their way. One of them was a woman with long blonde hair pulled back in two low ponytails. Brown eyes, soft delicate white skin with a small hint of a tan. On her forehead was a blue diamond that anyone could easily see in a crowd. Her clothes were a low white blouse that almost resembled a kimono in a sense. A long green jacket that reached her knees and black dress pants with black heeled sandals.

The man beside her had long spiky white hair. His eyes black, with red stripes going down his face almost like he was crying tears of blood. Two locks of his hair framed his face, his skin was a little tanned though a little darker than the woman's. His clothes were a green outfit with a red vest and those sandals that she sees people wear at festivals or something.

Though, at the moment she didn't focus on that. Hinata was too concerned about Naruto. Naruto grabbed his head and started to scream out like he was in pain. "Hinata!" shouted the two people rushing toward her. Again, she ignored them as she grabbed Naruto, trying to get him to stop, to get him to relax. What was causing all of this!? Before she knew it, Naruto threw her off of him; Hinata landed with a hard thump but didn't pass out.

"Hinata are you okay?" asked the woman with concern.

"Help Naruto, something's wrong with him!" said Hinata with panic in her voice. Tears started to fill her eyes as she feared what was going to happen to Naruto. "Please Tsunade, Jiraiya help Naruto!" Naruto's screams echoed through the village, the woman rushed over to Naruto, sensing that he was seeing something. Whatever that would be, he'll have to tell them when he calms down enough. Tightly holding the curve of his neck and shoulder, she pressed onto the skin. Hoping that it would work on someone that was in such a panic.

It did just that, for not a moment too late Naruto fell over out cold. Hinata rushed to Naruto, hoping that he was okay. "Hinata…" said the man as if he was confused. "Tell us what happened from the moment you left where you were, until now and how you met… him."


	13. Memories

_I didn't know why I freaked out like I did when I entered the village, but what I did know was that it involved the visions that I've been having lately. But, were the memories that bad that I wanted to forget and never wanted to come to this village? For the more I thought about it, the more I remember how I would always avoid Konoha, I don't really know why but maybe, just maybe I might start to understand the reason behind that feeling…_

After the three of them carried and out cold Naruto to the house at the top of the hill that was really a hallowed out tree. Hinata stared at the two adults as she tried to think on what she should ask. Such as how did they know that she had been here or, if they had sensed something was about to go down. Either way, if it wasn't for Tsunade, Naruto might have hurt people, even himself. Though, when Jiraiya had stared at Naruto, it almost seemed like he's seen him somewhere before, though she couldn't be a hundred percent sure why that would be since, from what Naruto had told her he never had any friends let alone stayed anywhere long to build a real connection.

The young woman wouldn't really be sure what the white haired man could be thinking, but at this point it could be anything. Hinata didn't know what to really say, what she should really tell them about what had happened from the moment she had left the village to travel a bit, until now. It was just so hard to explain… though she knew that it was something that she had to explain to them or there may be even more trouble.

Turning her head, Hinata stared at Naruto who was sleeping on the couch; his expression was tense, scared and filled with pain. What could he possibly be seeing in his sleep to cause him such pain? Taking a deep breath, Hinata reached over and held Naruto's hand, hoping that would bring him some peace as he sleeps. "Hinata, tell us what happened?" asked the blonde haired woman as she stared at the blue haired woman.

Taking a deep breath, the young woman looked down as she said "I was kidnapped after I left the village. I don't know how long they had me for but, Naruto saved me. He battled the men that had me and won." She didn't know what else to say without giving out too much information. Naruto was after all someone that liked to keep to himself. Though she had to at least say something more that would get Naruto on their good side right now, no matter what it could be. "I wanted to repay Naruto for saving me so I traveled with him. We've been saving Pokémon from themselves and this organization. We're rescuing Pokémon that are being called 'Shadow Pokémon' and we're trying to find a way to purify them and return them to normal."

Looking up at them, Hinata didn't know what more that she could say. Though, from the looks on their faces, it almost seemed like they were thinking about something that was in their mind, something that was bugging them about Naruto. Whatever it was, she wasn't sure though she had to know what was going on in case it was a bad thought about Naruto.

"Hinata, what's his last name?" asked the white haired man.

"Uzumaki why," answered Hinata with confusion clear in her voice and eyes.

Both of them had wide eyes when Hinata had answered them. Why that was, she didn't know but she was going to find out. "Why do you ask?" asked Hinata in confusion. Looking at both of them, shifting her gaze from one to the other and back again, what could they be hiding? "Tsunade, Jiraiya, what's going on? Are you hiding something?"

Jiraiya sighed softly, running a hand through his white locks as if he was trying to think of the right words to use for this situation. His face looked so tired and ragged as if he had just aged twenty years in only a few seconds. Was it that bad or was there more? Finally, the older man's words broke Hinata out of her thoughts. "Naruto may be the lost child of my old student. We thought that he had died with his parents but… there was never a body to prove it. If this is, indeed him then… well there might be some gods after all."

What did that mean? Wait… was Naruto the son of Jiraiya's student? Well, there wasn't really any way of knowing since Naruto has no memories of his past, with him being so young and all. But, the more she thought about it, and on Naruto's strange behaviour lately… she wondered if maybe he did have some memories of his parents and they were now just starting to surface. Though, that was only a thought…

Tsunade pushed herself up to her feet as she said "well, Hinata, stay with him and once he wakes up come and get one of us alright?" The blue haired woman blinked up at Tsunade in confusion for a brief moment only to nod softly. The two adults walked off, most likely to check on one of the villagers. With Tsunade being the only doctor in the village and Jiraiya the only body guard she would have, they might be gone for a while.

Turning her gaze back to Naruto, the young woman saw that he seemed peaceful as he slept. Though, it made her wonder just what he was dreaming about. What could he be dreaming of in the first place? Frowning, Hinata reached over and gently took hold of Naruto's hand. This was only the second time she saw him asleep like this. The only difference, was that last time he was just weak from being controlled by the shadows, while this time he had been knocked out with a nerve pinch.

Reaching over with her free hand, Hinata brushed some of Naruto's blonde bangs from his face as she stared at him with a hidden emotion that she had hoped that it would stay that way. Hidden from the world, including herself. "Naruto… you'll be okay I'm sure." She whispered softly, not sure if he could even hear her. Though, it didn't stop her from running her hand through his blonde locks. The motion had caused Naruto's expression to relax a little more, his face turning and leaned into Hinata's palm. Causing the young woman to blush gently, did her touch bring a calm air to him?

Soon, Hinata started to hum something softly under her breath. A song that she remembered from when she was a child. Her mother singing the song for her and her little sister whenever they were sad, scared or had trouble sleeping. No matter how much time passes, Hinata would still remember the song as it was engraved on her heart for all times.

_Mujihi na kotoba dake ga detarame ni machi ni afureteru  
NEVER MORE setsunaku nagareteta koe_

Hinata stared at Naruto as he slept. He seemed so relaxed, so calm… almost peaceful. It was so strange to think on how he was when they first met. He was almost like a battle hardened hero that tried to make things right, and not letting anyone enter his heart. The more she thought about it, the more she remembered just how much he had changed in such a short amount of time.

_Nanigenai nichijou ga sayonara wo tsuge  
Bokura no kakegae no nai hi ushinawareteta  
Taiyou kakusu kirisame hikari wo ubai  
Shinjiru mono nakushiteta boku wa nayami dakedo_

Smiling gently at Naruto, Hinata moved her hand away from his hair and cupped his cheek, turning it to face her. Wondering if he had showed any other signs of his change from the moment he was in Team Snagem up until now. Before, he was almost emotionless, or he only felt anger or the desire to do something bad but… he fought that urge. He wanted to make up for his crimes. Naruto had done so much to make up for his sins, trying to be strong for those who needed to see true inner strength.

_Wasurenai yo daiji na minna to sugoshita mainichi  
NEVER MORE kurai yami mo hitori ja nai sa  
Mitsukedasu yo daiji na nakushita mono wo  
NEVER MORE kimi no koe ga kitto sou boku wo michibiku yo_

Naruto grunted a bit in his sleep mumbling something that she couldn't decipher in the least. It almost seemed like he was trying to tell her something. Hinata tried to listen in on what he was trying to say, but his words were just too quiet for her to listen in on. Taking a deep breath, Hinata kept on singing the song to Naruto, hoping he would wake up soon… she worried about him so much.

_Shinjiteita yo osanai koro wa tashika ni  
Itsunomanika wasureteta taisetsu na kotoba  
Samenai sekai no naka de sagashi motomete  
Boku wa yatto mitsuketa yo kokoro no oku ni atta_

Taking a deep breath, Hinata kept her voice soft, as if hoping that this song would be peaceful enough for Naruto. She couldn't help but smile gently at Naruto as he turned his head, his squeezed tightly as if he was in pain. Lifting his gloved hand, Hinata felt it between her hands, his fingers felt so cold… Was he that scared or… was he just scared?

_Kono mama densha noreba nidoto aenai kigashite  
NEVER MORE tomadou se wo kimi ga sotto osu yo  
Shinjiyou kimi no egao bokura no kizuna wo  
NEVER MORE hanaretete mo tsutawaru yo kimi no kokoro ga_

Pushing herself up, Hinata kept on singing the song, hoping that would bring Naruto back to a peaceful sleep. Going to the closet just down the hall, she grabbed a warm blanket before she started to walk on back to the sleeping snagger; his expression was still the same. Just staring at him was enough to tug at her heart strings. Wiping her eye of a stray tear, Hinata unfolded the blanket and carefully set it over Naruto, hoping that would warm him up a little bit.

_Itsumo kimi no kioku no katasumi ni ne  
NEVER MORE boku ga iru shinjite arukidasu yo_

Once Hinata was sure that Naruto would be warm enough, she sat back down in her chair and waited for the blonde young man to awaken. She wanted to be sure that he was going to be okay. That whatever he saw in his mind, that he would always be okay. Though, to be honest she wasn't a hundred percent sure why she was this worried about Naruto… she cared for anyone that was in her heart but… what she feels for Naruto seems to be different compared to the concern she'd feel for a friend.

_Wasurenai yo daiji na minna to sugoshita mainichi  
NEVER MORE kurai yami mo hitori ja nai yo  
Mitsukedasu yo daiji na nakushita mono wo  
NEVER MORE kimi no koe ga kitto sou boku wo michibiku yo_

Blinking slowly, Hinata looked down at Naruto and blinked when she saw two strings around his neck. Whatever that was, she didn't know but it had her curious as to what it could be. Taking a deep breath, she reached around his neck, carefully picking up the string from his collar and pulled at the strings, being careful not to scare Naruto awake.

Carefully, the young woman took a deep breath and gently pulled out the two necklaces that had intertwined with each other as if they were two souls wanting to become one. Though, that wasn't the only thing that she had noticed. It was what was on the necklaces that she had noticed. She's seen the one before in a photo. Tsunade had told her that she gave the necklace to a friend and family member once years ago and never saw it again. As for the other, it was the other half to her necklace. How did Naruto get it?

_Wasurenai yo daiji na minna to sugoshita mainichi  
NEVER MORE kurai yami mo hitori ja nai sa  
Mitsukedasu yo daiji na nakushita mono wo  
NEVER MORE kimi no koe ga kitto sou boku wo michibiku yo_

Slowly, Hinata set the necklace back under his shirt. Not wanting to cause anymore disturbance than she already caused. She didn't know what he was going to do, there was no way of knowing if Naruto were one of those sleepers that would attack anyone that bothered him or would grab them, hurt them with a death-like grip while half asleep.

Looking at Naruto's face once more, she saw that his expression was still painful. Frowning, the young woman leaned in close, wondering if he would say anything that would give her a clue, a hint to what he was saying. Though, there was really no way of knowing if Naruto would ever talk in his sleep. Taking a deep breath, the young woman brushed his hair back once more as she tried to get him to relax a little bit while he slept.

_Ima mo oboeteru  
Kimi ni fureta yoru wo sore wa  
Suteki na omoide  
Itsumo oboeteru_

Hinata leaned closer to Naruto, as if she was going to kiss him. The thought of being so close to him, the thought of Naruto holding her in his arms and kissing her brought a strange feeling stirring deep within her heart. Closer and closer Hinata got to Naruto, oh how much she just wanted to kiss him, to feel his lips upon hers. It was enough to send chills of excitement through her very system and right down to the core of her soul.

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes snapped open; he shoved Hinata off of him and held his head, his body trembling. Hinata yelped when he had shoved her away and stared at the now awake young man with concern. "Naruto, what's wrong?" asked Hinata. Shaking his head, Naruto pushed himself off of the couch and ran as fast as he could out of the house. Has his dreams been worse than she could have ever imagined they could be? Getting up onto her feet, Hinata ran after Naruto, he should keep resting until he got his full strength back.

Running as fast as she could, the young woman tried to find where Naruto would have gone. The village may not look it, but she knew that it was bigger than it appeared to be. Kurama had ran after Hinata and jumped up onto her shoulder, causing the blue haired woman to jump from shock. "Kurama, you startled me… do you know where Naruto could have gone?" asked Hinata. Kurama nodded before he jumped down from Hinata's shoulder and ran ahead. Hinata knew that Kurama would still be able to sense where Naruto was even if he doesn't stay in a pokéball, though she never fully understood why Naruto never kept the tiny fox Pokémon in a pokéball but she shouldn't complain at the moment. Right now, her main focus was to get to Naruto to make sure that he was okay.

Hinata looked through the village, wondering out of all the places for him to have gone, where could it be? There was no way of knowing… though; it had her confused as to how Kurama would know where the blonde young man could have gone. Was the little Pokémon more knowledgeable than he lets on? Shaking her head, Hinata kept on running after the small Eevee.

The sounds of the villagers reached her ears, though they grew fainter and fainter as she ran. It almost seemed like Kurama was taking her to the abandoned park. But why? No one had been there for years. There shouldn't be anything nor anyone there. So… why would Kurama take her here? Why would Naruto run here? Sure he's never been here before (unless he has) he shouldn't know where the park was.

Shaking her head, Hinata ran faster, wanting to catch up with Naruto. Wanting to make sure that he was okay and that nothing was wrong with him. For if she was right, and that if Naruto's heart was truly connected to his Pokémon, did that mean that their heart would also be connected to his own and feel what he's feeling and know where he would be no matter how far apart they were? There was still so much that she didn't fully understand about Naruto's gift, but it didn't matter, they would find out together… somehow.

Once Hinata had reached the park, she wished that she had someone with her right now. Well, not including Kurama. Looking around the park, she saw that the grass was withered, the slides, swings and the other playground equipment were covered in webbing, dust, vines ect. It almost seemed haunted. Hinata wanted to run, wanted to hide. She had heard the stories about what had happened here so long ago but something told her, a feeling deep within her told her to keep walking forward, that she would find Naruto here.

"Naruto? Are you here?" called out Hinata, though she didn't think that she would get an answer from him. Not that she could really blame him. He must be in some kind of shock or something and it was messing with his sense of self.

Finally, Hinata heard it… it was soft at first but it was growing in volume. It was… screaming. Gasping, she ran on toward the source of the sound. There was no way that she could deny that this was Naruto's screams. Something had to be causing him more pain. More emotional pain that she wanted to end, he couldn't keep living like this, living like he was in the dark to something tragic. Whatever was causing this, had to be something pretty bad. Taking a deep breath, Hinata made her way over to the only jungle gym that was the most popular thing to play on here before it was haunted. For whoever came in here would always hear the sounds of people screaming and a little boy crying. But the crying was never fully understood what the wailed words would be saying or would try to say. The more she listened, the clearer the words became.

_"Mommy, Daddy! Wake up!"_

Hinata could only frown when she heard that. For some reason, that voice almost sounded like Naruto… not completely but close enough. Why that was, she wasn't sure but, there might be a way to find out. Walking closer and closer to the jungle gym, Hinata saw a hunched figure sitting at the bottom of the slide, a figure with spiky blonde hair. That was when she realised that it was Naruto, though his eyes looked sad.

"Naruto…" whispered Hinata before slowly walking toward him, being careful not to scare him anymore than he already was. Even the slightest step could set him off, though that was what she figured. Carefully, Hinata's footsteps grew closer and closer to Naruto, being careful not to make any sudden sounds or noise. Taking a deep breath, Hinata made her way to Naruto, taking a seat next to him on the slide, staring at him with concern and worry.

"I remember…" whispered Naruto, his voice filled with sadness, guilt, regret and remorse. Frowning, Hinata was about to ask him what he remembered, and why he sounded like this, like he had lost a battle that had decided a great fate of the world. Naruto lifted his head and stared at Hinata, his eyes filled with unshed tears, it was heart breaking to see him like this. "My parents… I know what happened to them. The memories I've had… they were manipulated by Kushina. Whatever she did, or why she did it is a mystery but… damn it." He bent his head low and grabbed at his blonde locks as if the memory was tearing him apart inside.

"What happened?" asked Hinata.

Naruto whispered "just watch Hinata… watch and you'll understand." What did he mean by 'watch'? There was no way that she would be able to watch a memory if it was in his head. That was, until she started to see images starting to form. Staring with wide eyes, Hinata looked on in shock as ghostly images started to form. Was this why the park was haunted? The ghosts were haunting this place? "The memories of my past… they were sealed here. My parents knew that I wouldn't accept it in my head if I knew my memories had been messed with. So… with the last ounce of strength they had they sealed the memories of what they saw and felt with bits and pieces of my own here. Well, Kushina added some of my memories here to seal them away. That's all I know…" whispered Naruto.

The ghostly image of a man with spiky blonde hair like Naruto appeared. Though, he wore a long white jacket with a black long sleeved shirt and matching black pants. His shoes of choice were blue toeless shoes the man's blue eyes were angry. Next to him was a woman with long red hair that reached her waist, a pair of white shorts and a black muscle shirt. Her soft brown eyes were filled with fear and worry. Why fear? Though, what was behind them was what caught her eye. It was a little boy, possibly around the age of three. His blonde hair looked like the man's, his face looked like the woman's… then, she noticed them. The whisker marks on his cheeks.

"That… that's you?"

"Yes… no one could come in here because of the memory that would replay itself over and over again. The memories won't disappear… until I saw them for myself."

Hinata could only frown. Was it right for her to stare at the memories that were only meant for him to watch and him alone? It didn't seem right… but, she couldn't leave Naruto alone through this. It just wasn't right. Looking up at the memory, Hinata saw a group of people in dark robes. All of them, but one had the hoods up, while the one man, his skin was pale milk, his eyes gold, reminding her of a snake type Pokémon she saw once. He had… purple eye liner? How weird was that? Then, she saw his long black hair that was smooth and slick as silk.

Who were they? Were they from that organization that Naruto had been from?

_"Minato… Kushina… why did you ever think that you could escape? After all… you were a part of my team."_ said the snake man.

_"We only joined to get information to take your group down!"_ shouted the red haired woman who, Hinata assumed to be Kushina. Hinata didn't know what was going to happen but she knew that it was something bad. There was no way that a memory like this could be good at all.

The man narrowed his eyes as he stepped forward, his arms spread wide as if to protect the woman and the little boy behind him. The blonde haired man narrowed his blue eyes at the snake man as he said _"we left, and we're never going back!"_ The snake man just smirked, as if he had a plan to convince them to come back. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. The man pulled out two pokéballs and called out two snake type Pokémon. One was a Pokémon named Arbok it has purple scales over most of its body. It was like a cobra, it can spread out its ribs into a hood, though she remembered that they always seem to be in this position. On its "hood", it has a design much like an angry face. Studies on the aforementioned design have confirmed that there are six variations.

She knew that Pokémon, it was called Seviper, a fairly large snake Pokémon that are usually depicted scrunched up like an accordion. They are mostly black in color, but have several markings on their body. Seviper have yellow hexagon markings that run from their head to their tail, small yellow bumps where they touch the ground (this is presumably to help with movement) and various purple scar-like marks. Seviper has several different weapons it can use in battle, such as elongated red fangs that protrude from the mouth and a partially red-coloured, bladelike tail that it can use to stab or swipe. Seviper also have fierce red eyes that would make anyone fear it.

She knew that both of those Pokémon were dangerous in the wrong hands. And that was exactly was the way it was with this man. The man smirked as he said _"Arbok, restrain Minato! Seviper, get Kushina."_ the man laughed like a mad man, though before the snake Pokémon could grab the two adults, Minato and Kushina pulled out a pokéball and called forth their Pokémon.

_"Umbreon!"_

_"Espeon!"_

Hinata stared with wide eyes; they were the same Pokémon that Naruto uses! She could easily tell these two, were defiantly the same ones that Naruto used. That, and because of what he had said about Kushina messing with his memories. When the dark and psychic types charged, they were going to do what they could to protect their masters and their son. When Hinata looked over, she saw how frightened Naruto was; he clung to his mother's leg, not wanting to be separated from her. Though, it seemed that Espeon and Umbreon wouldn't be enough to stop the two snake Pokémon. Arbok managed to wrap its tail around Espeon while Seviper did the same for Umbreon. It seemed that they were mostly trying to distract the two Pokémon from whatever the snake man was really trying to do.

The man walked over to Kushina and Minato, his smile was dark and unnerving. It was easy to see why Naruto left, or one of the reasons why he left. Soon, Hinata saw something shiny in the man's sleeve. It seemed that he was hiding something. He just smirked as he said _"I'm sorry Minato… Kushina… but I can't let you both live. You know too much, so, you need to be exterminated, you and your son."_ As soon as he said that, he pointed a silver gun at Minato and Kushina, and shot, the sound of thumps echoed through the silence after the gun shots. Hinata stared in shock at what she had just seen. His parents had been shot… _"Arbok, Seviper, slash their bodies a bit to make it seem like a wild Pokémon attack. I'll handle the boy."_

Espeon and Umbreon stood before Naruto, their eyes glowing as if their rage was giving them a mysterious power. As for Naruto, he wasn't aware of what was going on around him, he was crying, screaming for his parents to wake up and open their eyes. He didn't even notice their lips moving as they had drawn a seal made of their blood. Espeon barked something at Umbreon before she turned to Naruto, the crystal on her forehead glowed before Naruto passed out.

The snake man frowned and raised an eyebrow before smirking. _"The boy could be of great use to us. Bring him and the two Pokémon along."_ As soon as he had said that, the memory had faded into darkness, Hinata didn't know what to say… but what she did know was that she was in shock about what had happened. Naruto saw his own parents killed before his eyes, though she had also noticed, that from the shot shots, blood had stained Naruto's face and hair before the man had carried him away. She wondered just how much this would have affected Naruto.

"My parents died because they knew too much. I should have died with them but I stayed alive because Orochimaru sensed something in me. He felt that I could be a tool for his evil plans. I still don't fully understand what's going on but… damn it, I don't know why I was spared."

Hinata wrapped her arm around Naruto and pulled him close for a hug. The young man laid his head on her shoulder, unable to say any more to Hinata about the memory. She couldn't blame him for that; it was just something that would have traumatized him if he remembered. Now that he was an adult, Naruto could handle the memory better… though, he might not see it that way. Taking a deep breath, the young woman looked down at Naruto as she said "Naruto… you survived because like everyone in the world, you have a purpose. My purpose is to help you with the Shadow Pokémon, and yours, well… yours just might be to stop the people who killed your parents." Naruto looked up at Hinata; his eyes had a few remains of tears that clung to his lashes. Hinata blushed gently, she didn't know why he was staring at her like that but… she felt her heart pounding. Was it because he was so close rather than his eyes?

Blushing softly, she whispered "and… and your purpose… is to make others happy. Like what you did for Iruka with showing his students a battle, you made me happy when you saved me. You made me happy when you sang at the Karaoke Bar." Hinata felt her face getting redder and redder the more she talked. It seemed so strange that she was now talking about the things they did that made her happy. Naruto blushed softly as he lifted he just stared at Hinata. Lifting his head, the young man looked at Hinata, leaning closer to her.

"Is that it? That can't be the only thing Hinata…"

Blushing more, she whispered "your purpose… might… might be with… with me." She tightly closed her eyes, not sure if she could face him. Why did she have to go and say that?! There was just no way that she could face him now that she had said that to Naruto! Gulping, the young woman slowly started to open her eyes only to blush a deep crimson when she saw Naruto leaning closer to her.

"Hinata… why did you follow me here…?"

"Because… because I care about you a lot Naruto."

"You care about me?"

"Yes… I do."

"I care about you too Hinata." Naruto's eyes were half open, his gaze down at Hinata's lips. Was he going to kiss her? Oh dear god he was! Naruto was leaning closer and closer to her, this had to be it! Hinata was going to have her first kiss! Taking a deep breath, the young woman closed her eyes as she waited for Naruto to place his lips upon hers. Her heart was beating loudly; she could hear it ringing in her ears. There was just no way that anything could ruin this moment for her! Nothing!

Suddenly, there was a loud roar. Naruto pulled himself away from Hinata and looked at the forest. Hinata wanted to curse loudly at the kiss bring interrupted but at the moment, there were more important matters to attend to. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he said "that was a Pokémon. What's in the forest Hinata?"

Hinata had to think for a moment. There was something in the forest, but she just couldn't remember. There was a shrine but what was it for? Shaking her head, the young woman calmly said "I only know that there is a Shrine there…"

"Alright, well let's go!" The roar happened again, and it was louder, and angrier than ever. Just what had Naruto gotten himself into this time?


	14. The Shrine

_I'm going to beat the person that ruined my kiss with Hinata!_

Naruto and Hinata ran through the tunnel that leads to the sacred shrine. From the voices that were in this place, he gathered that they were all Pokémon. Pokémon that were trying to keep the shrine safe from whatever dangers arose. Though, he was surprised that no one had tried to attack him and Hinata. Looking around, he saw how frightened the wild Pokémon were becoming. It was enough to make him want to reach out and comfort them but right now… he couldn't.

The shrine had to be protected right now before it was too late. Looking at Hinata, he noticed that she had removed her hat, and he had to admit she looks better without it. She looks cute without her hair being tucked into her hat. Shaking his head, Naruto kept on running, he had to hurry and get to the shrine before it was too late. The roaring was getting louder and fiercer. The Pokémon that was doing this, he could hear its voice.

_Destroy shine! Destroy! Destroy everything in way!"_ Naruto gritted his teeth, the rage that this Pokémon was feeling was coursing through him, and it was starting to get to him. Groaning, he rubbed his temple a little shakily before taking a deep breath, just wanting to relax before he had to fight this thing.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto reached out for his pokéballs, hoping that his Pokémon would be able to handle the task. Though he hoped that they would be able to handle it, for if they weren't there would be no way of knowing what to do afterwards for he felt that this shrine would be the only hope for Shadow Pokémon. This made him run even faster than before.

"Naruto what's going on? Do you know what that sound was?" asked Hinata, trying to keep up with him. Naruto knew that he was faster than she was, that he had trained to run with weights to help him gain more speed. Before Hinata could speak again, Naruto grabbed her arms and pulled them over his shoulders, pulling Hinata's body into his as he ran. The momentum had caused Hinata to quickly wrap her legs around Naruto's waist, not wanting to fall off.

"It's a Shadow Pokémon, I'm not sure what the Pokémon is as of yet but I know we're close. So until then, just hold on!" shouted Naruto as he ran faster and faster. He had to think of something, from the way the roars reacted, it almost seemed like it was a big Pokémon, but what roar could that be? He knew every Pokémon sound on the planet yet he just couldn't remember this roar. What Pokémon would always sound so angry or better yet, would roar even when it was released from the ocean or pokéball?

Naruto's vision started to darken. Almost like he was looking through a tunnel, was he starting to lose his vision? He can't lose his sight; he has nothing wrong with his sight! Damn it, this wasn't looking good. Shaking his head, Naruto tried to get himself to relax, tried to get himself to calm down. The sounds of his boots crunching dried up leaves echoed through his ears as he ran. Was he getting closer or was he just far away from the shrine?

_"You can use power Naruto… but you can't rely on it for everything…"_ said a familiar voice, a voice he remembered to be the voice of his ancestor… the demon, Kurama. He didn't want to use attacks, to him the kind of attacks that Kurama would be talking about would be the ones like Pokémon use, there was no way that he was going to use them, he wasn't a Pokémon! He was human even if there was a tiny drop of demon blood within his veins. _"Naruto, you would be too angry at your Pokémon to use them…"_ Okay yeah, he was angry at Kushina and Minato for warping his mind to change his memories but damn it, he still had other Pokémon that he could use.

He still had other Shadow Pokémon that he could use and to try to purify them. There has to be a way to purify them right? After all, why else would they start to regain some of their original attacks in the first place?

"Naruto are you okay?" asked Hinata.

"Fine… but… I think my vision is acting weird because I'm having tunnel vision." Answered Naruto, a little freaked out still by his vision. Blinking a few times, Naruto felt like his vision was starting to get worse. His sight almost went black, though in the center of his sight he thought he saw a glowing green light. Frowning in confusion, he heard a new voice, one that was calm, joyful yet held its own wisdom.

_"Get to the shrine; protect the flute before they get to it. With the flute, you can save Pokémon…"_ said the voice.

Naruto frowned in confusion, how could a flute help Pokémon? This didn't make sense to him but at the moment, he didn't care. If that voice was right, then he had to get the flute before it was too late. Blinking a few times, Naruto saw that his vision was starting to return to him. Did that mean that the vision he saw, the sight of that green light had been the cause of it in the first place? Shaking his head, the young man ran through the small tunnel, he could see smoke on the other side; he knew that he was close now. "Get ready Hinata!" shouted Naruto as they entered the Shrine Grounds.

In the center of the grounds was a simple looking shrine, decorated in vines, and little stone statues of some kind of sprite. He couldn't tell what it looked like but… for some odd reason he felt like he's met that Pokémon once before. Turning his head, Naruto yelped and jumped out of the way as a big red scaly tail came crashing down where Naruto once stood.

Looking up, Naruto saw a large dragon shaped Pokémon. Its serpentine body was red, when it should be blue, but its underbelly and the spots along its body are yellow. It has a three-pointed, dark red crest on its head and four white fins down its back. Its mouth is very large and gaping, bearing four canine teeth, but bears some resemblance to that of its pre-evolution Magikarp. Like Magikarp, it has one barbel on both sides of its face. Its pectoral and dorsal fins also resemble Magikarp's. He knew this Pokémon, it was a Gyarados, and like all Gyarados, it is rarely shown with its mouth closed.

It was truly rare to see a red Gyarados though… something must have happened to it to have caused this. Was this a Shadow Pokémon? Taking a deep breath, Naruto focused on his power, wanting to speak to Gyarados. Wanting to see if it had the same pattern of speech like Absol, for if that was the case then it was a Shadow Pokémon. Well, that and if Hinata could see the dark aura.

Slowly, Naruto could feel his powers starting to surface, he could literally feel the blue of his eyes be consumed by red, and his pupils shrink and stretch into slits. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto looked up as he said _"Gyarados, why are you here? Do you not have a trainer?"_

_"Trainer in shrine… Trainer after flute, I destroy! Destroy forest and those in trainer's way!"_

It sounded like a Shadow Pokémon, but just to be on the safe side, Naruto looked over his shoulder. Wondering if Hinata could see the dark aura, he whispered "is it?" Seeing Hinata nod, Naruto knew that he would have to hurry and get into the shrine. But, could he risk leaving the Shadow Pokémon out here alone? No… no he couldn't. Narrowing his eyes, he looked around, trying to see if he could find his little friend. _"Kurama, where are you?"_

_"I'm here. Whatcha need Naruto?"_

_"Get into the shrine and get whatever the trainer is after."_

_"You got it Naruto!"_ As soon as Kurama said that, he ran off into the shrine, thank god he still had Kurama, though he was going to have a serious talk to him, Kushina and Minato later. Right now, he had to focus on fighting this Gyarados before it destroyed the shrine! He only has one Pokémon that can use thunder at the moment, but he didn't know that with it still being a Shadow Pokémon that it would even be able to use it. Dear god he hoped that it would be able to help him defeat Gyarados…

Reaching to his belt, Naruto pulled out a pokéball that he sensed the Pokémon's dark yet thunderous aura from. Grabbing it, the young man stared at the small red and white orb in his hand as he prayed that this little guy can handle the task at hand. Though, then again he shouldn't judge on pure size or power. Smirking, Naruto threw the ball as he called out "go Pichu; let's show this Pokémon what you can do!"

"Naruto you just caught Pichu! There is no way that it would know any moves yet!" shouted Hinata in shock and worry. He couldn't blame her for the worry, but if Pichu was anything like Absol, then there was a chance that it would learn a move that would help him in his hour of need. There was no other way, not unless Blade somehow knew Thunder Punch. Once Pichu was out of its pokéball, it jumped and twirled in the air. Well, it seemed that it wasn't as evil as the other Shadow Pokémon, wonder why…? Shaking his head, Naruto looked at the tiny mouse Pokémon as he asked _"Pichu, do you know any lightening moves or anything besides Shadow Rush?"_

Pichu turned around and gave Naruto a cute smile and a jump of joy. It almost seemed… normal. Strange. How could a Shadow Pokémon be so peaceful when he didn't battle with it before? It didn't make a lick of sense to him but for the time being, he had to hope, had to pray… _"Pichu knows thunder shock and thunder!"_ declared Pichu, much to Naruto's surprise and joy though was wondering why it spoke in the third person.

Smirking, Naruto couldn't help but shout out "Pichu use Thunder!" Pichu grinned before running around in circles. This of course confused Naruto as to why it would act like a child. Was it a baby or was it just that childish? He couldn't say. Though, as for Gyarados, without its trainer there was no way that it would be able to fight properly. Unless somehow it was given orders to attack how it wanted. Pichu jumped up into the air, doing a back flip before starting to climb atop of Gyarados. The water type screamed and roared in rage, trying to thrash about so Pichu would fly off of it. But sadly, that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Naruto couldn't help but grin in his mind.

_"Get off! Will kill you, you will be killed by Shadow Pokémon!"_ shouted the angry water type.

Pichu only laughed and giggled. Yup, definitely a child, why else would it seem to be having so much fun? Almost as if it wasn't a Shadow Pokémon but… wait. "Hinata, what's the aura like around Pichu?" Hinata frowned for a moment before staring at Pichu, he wondered if she would even be able to tell the difference from Pichu and Gyarados, or at least their aura since they're both Shadow Pokémon and they're so close to the other. He saw Hinata squint her eyes as she tried to focus on the two Pokémon. He was sure that she wouldn't be able to do it until he saw her smile, her eyes lightning up; Naruto couldn't help but blush at the sight for Hinata just looked so damn beautiful.

"Pichu's aura isn't as strong as Gyarados's aura. In fact, it's almost gone. It's lighter than Absol's aura." Hinata said with a bright and cheerful smile. If that was the case though, how did that happen? Everyone that he's captured has had very dark aura that needed to be purified and yet, Pichu's aura wasn't so strong. Was that red haired woman able to purify Shadow Pokémon like he was or… was it more?

_"I'll crush you!"_ shouted Gyarados as it thrashed about, slamming itself into the trees and the ground, hoping that it would get Pichu off of its back. Hoping that it would finally leave it alone to its destruction, and that it would make its owner proud. Wait, proud? Why would it care about making its trainer proud? Was that why this Pokémon was so angry? Well, more so than the other Shadow Pokémon that he's met.

_"Damn it Pichu use Thunder!" _shouted Naruto, getting really angry that Pichu wasn't listening to him, that he was just playing like a little kid. Pichu had climbed atop of Gyarados's head and just tilted his head as if he didn't understand what Naruto was saying. Though, soon the tiny mouse Pokémon just smiled before tightly closing his eyes, its tiny soft pink cheeks started to light up and spark. Holy crap it was going to listen to him! The tiny Pokémon let out a loud howl as its body was covered in a glowing yellow light, showing that it was building up electricity within its tiny body. Only to whimper in pain and fall over, Naruto of course rushed forward trying to catch the tiny Pokémon.

_"Hold on Pichu!"_ shouted Naruto as he pumped his legs to run even faster than he ever could before. The Gyarados wouldn't have it though. For it swung its mighty tail at Naruto, hoping to trip him, hoping to knock him back so he wouldn't get to Pichu. Did that mean it wanted Pichu to fall so it could… dear god he didn't even want to think about it! Shaking his head, Naruto jumped over the swishing tail, and then jumped to the side when it tried to slam into him from above. Man, Gyarados just did not want to let Naruto near Pichu.

When Gyarados tried to swing its tail again at Naruto, he ran faster then slid just under the scaly tail just in the nick of time, for as soon as he slid on the hard smooth stone ground, he had caught Pichu in his arms. Smiling, the young man calmly said _"glad to see that your safe now Pichu."_ Pichu looked up at Naruto with a hint of pain; its own electricity had shocked him back. Damn it, the only down side to Pichu was that it would always shock itself until it evolved. Gently, the young man rubbed Pichu's head and frowned. _"I'm sorry Pichu; I can't believe I forgot that you shock yourself."_ Pichu let out a soft whine and nuzzled against Naruto's chest as if hoping to gain comfort from the small action.

Suddenly, Naruto felt like something was wrong. That something bad was going to happen. Everything but him seemed to have moved in slow motion when he stated to turn his head to look up at the cause of the danger. It seemed that Gyarados wasn't happy with being shocked by Pichu, that it wasn't happy that Naruto cared so much about the tiny mouse Pokémon. Hell, it just didn't seem happy period.

He had to do something or Pichu will get hurt. If Gyarados was so angry, he… it… ah hell he was just going to stick to calling it 'he', anyway, he was going to make sure that both Naruto and Pichu got hurt in some way. Maybe it was jealous because Naruto cared for Pichu while the trainer for Gyarados didn't care what so ever. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto gently set Pichu in his pocket, a pocket that thank god, was big enough to fit the tiny mouse. Jumping into the air, Naruto felt a rush of power surge through his system. A power that he knew belonged to not just him, but to his ancestor Kurama. Growling, he threw his fist out, slamming it into the red Pokémon's face.

What he hadn't expected, was for the water type to go flying. Staring with wide eyes, Naruto had never known that he would be strong enough to have done that. But right now, he isn't complaining. All he cared about was saving Pichu and getting the item out of the shrine. Speaking of which, where the hell was Kurama?!

_"Naruto I have it!"_ shouted Kurama, holding onto a silver flute with gold swirls starting at the bottom and swirling around toward the mouth piece. He had to admit, it was a beautiful flute but why would it seem like it could save any Shadow Pokémon? It didn't make sense to him but, Naruto did sense a great sacred power emitting from it. What did it belong to and how was it created? Soon, a voice entered his mind once more. _"Use the flute… use it, and you shall save Pokémon."_ whispered the voice. His eyes were wide for a brief moment, trying to figure out where that voice was coming from but, he didn't think that he would ever figure it out.

Quickly, Naruto grabbed the flute from Kurama, hoping to end this here and now. Though, just as he was going to place his lips over the mouth piece, a man ran out of the temple, Naruto didn't know what was going on but whoever that person was, had only ran past Naruto. Yelping out from shock, Naruto fell over from the force of the person pumping into him. As he was falling backward, he saw the man… or at least he thinks it was a man, it was hard to say with the person wearing all black and a mask.

Shaking his head, Naruto acted quickly and started to play the first thing that came to mind. The music seemed to have flowed from his very soul and into his fingers. Time seemed to have slowed down once more, he didn't know how or why, but what he did know was that he started to feel a little more at peace. Slowly Naruto looked around, seeing that the pokéballs he had used for Shadow Pokémon started to float up into the air around him. Opening to reveal Absol, Ponyta, and Growlith. Even Pichu and Gyarados were starting to float into the sky. They floated around the shrine, the dark aura that surrounded them, started to fade.

_'What's happening to them?'_ thought Naruto as he played. The music was calm, peaceful yet sad. Playing all the emotions that the heart would show and shine through even the darkest of nights. Naruto even felt his own peace, felt the darkness and sadness seep its way out of his heart. Slowly, Naruto started to close his eyes as he felt a wave of peace flow through him.

Taking a deep breath, the young man couldn't help but smile the slightest bit before the song slowly started to end. Though, he felt like the song should go on forever and ever. It was just so peaceful, so amazing that he just had to keep going. The song itself was almost like a drug that he wanted to have forever and ever. Slowly, Naruto started to drift in and out. Was the flute taking his own energy or was he just so weak from the punch he gave Gyarados, either way he was just so tired and weak. Before he knew it, Naruto was out cold like a light.

* * *

Groaning, Naruto slowly started to open his eyes. Blinking slowly, the young man looked around the room in confusion. What happened? How did he get here? Frowning, he slowly pushed himself up and saw that he was in the living room of that one house he had been at earlier today. "Hinata?" called out Naruto with a small hint of worry and concern.

"So your awake." Said a woman as she walked into the room. He remembered her; sure he had been freaking out at the time but he remembered… remembered that she knocked him out! Narrowing his eyes, Naruto let out a small growl until the woman had said something that shocked him. "You're so much like your mother."

"You knew my mother?" Naruto said in shock.

"Yes, I did. Your mother was not just one of my friends, but was also my student. We both belong to the same clan so to speak. My grandmother was an Uzumaki, though unlike others of our clan, I do not have the same kind of power. I cannot speak to Pokémon as well; I can only make out a few words of what they say."

Shaking his head, the young man sat himself up more a little more, trying to get himself comfortable. Then, he remembered what had happened at the shrine. "The red Gyarados! What happened to it?!"

"Its fine, the pokéball it belonged to was left on the ground and it willingly went inside. It belongs to you now Naruto. Though, Hinata had also told us that it had been purified, along with the other Shadow Pokémon that you had with you." Naruto was still in shock. Did Hinata return them to their pokéballs? Shaking his head, the young man took a deep breath as he pushed himself up to his feet. It was best that he left now before Hinata saw him on his feet. She had to stay here, where she'll be safe. "Naruto, you're just going to leave Hinata?"

"What makes you think I'm leaving?"

"Your eyes says it all."

Naruto wanted to say 'no, I'll be back' but he knew that would just be a lie. And he hated lying as it was. Turning his eyes to stare at the blonde haired woman, he calmly said "I'm leaving Hinata yes, she's safer here and won't be in danger anymore. I'll be fine on this mission alone. Tell her that I just left…" With that said, he walked out of the door. His eyes sad and looked almost heart broken. Why did it hurt to be even this far away from Hinata?

Shaking his head, the young man looked up at the sky; he saw that it was dark. The stars were bright and shined in the night sky. Giving a small smile, he inhaled deeply as he started to walk down the hill. It was for the best that he left without anyone seeing them.

He was already walking down the hill, wanting to get out of this place. Even though, he had been born here, Naruto didn't feel like this was his home. Not anymore. Shaking his head, the blonde man stopped for a moment. He heard someone walking behind him, narrowing his eyes he turned his head and growled. Someone was trying to sneak behind him. His eyes were wide when he saw who had been behind him. "Hinata?"

"You thought you could just leave me?" Hinata said with a frown, not trying to sound mean but her eyes… they shined with anger, hurt, and sadness. Just staring at her, it made his heart want to break at the sight of her. Turning his head, the blonde haired man just couldn't bring himself to stare at Hinata, not when she stared at him with those beautiful lavender coloured eyes of hers. "Why Naruto? Why were you trying to leave?"

"I'm only putting you in danger! Think about it, you were almost attacked by Absol; I hurt you when I lost control over myself when I was consumed by darkness from the Shadow Pokémon. I can't bring myself to have you with my anymore!" His eyes were sad, filled with fear, fear of Hinata getting killed on his mission. There was no way that he could risk it anymore. Hands tightening into fists, he tried to get himself to relax. "Hinata… the thought of losing you… it… it hurts my heart."

"Your heart?" whispered Hinata with confusion. "What else Naruto?" asked Hinata, worried and concerned for Naruto as she slowly walked toward him. Wondering what Naruto would say. There had to be more for Naruto wanting to leave.

"I… I feel like I'll fall apart if I lost you. That I would lose a part of myself if you were taken away from me. Just thinking of all of the many ways to lose you, makes me sick and sad. I don't ever want to lose you, that's why, I'm going to leave you here, that way I know you're safe."

Hinata gently grabbed Naruto's hands and held them in hers as she said "Naruto… I'm not going anywhere but with you. I want to go with you and nothing will stop me."

"But you could die!"

"I won't, because I know you'll protect me."

Naruto stared at Hinata with wide eyes. Scared that he would lose her, he'll admit… he had grown feelings for Hinata over the short amount of time he's known her. Either way, he wouldn't lose her no matter what and he had to make sure that she got the idea of what could happen… Pulling her close to his chest and stared at her for a moment. Narrowing his eyes, he said "what if I lose control again? I could kill you and not even remember it."

"Naruto, no matter what you say I'm going with you."

"Why!? Why don't you get it that I'm doing this because I want you safe?! I want you safe because I love you!" As soon as he had said that, Naruto's eyes widened in shock and fear. Did he just say that?! Oh crap! What if she didn't feel the same?! There was no way that he would be able to stay here any longer, Hinata would hate him because she would feel creeped out from his confession and-

"I love you too."

-and she loves him too- wait what? "What?" Naruto stared at her with wide eyes. Hinata loved him to? Dear god, he was in shock right now. Though at the same time, his heart filled with joy. Now he just wanted to kiss her but, was afraid that she wouldn't want that as of yet. Looking closer at her expression, Naruto saw Hinata's eyes filled with love. A love that he never knew that he would ever receive from anyone before in his life. Gulping, Naruto thought that he might as well take the risk. What was there to lose anyway right?

Taking a deep breath, the young man pulled Hinata closer to his chest, dipped his face lower toward Hinata. Slowly, he closed his eyes as he felt his lips onto Hinata's. Her lips were soft, supple, and… they tasted like cinnamon. It was amazing how her kisses tasted but he was happy. Holding her closer to his chest, Naruto knew that he never wanted this kiss to end. For now, he wouldn't be able to leave Hinata here ever… he would have to have her with him.

_'I love Hinata Hyuuga…'_


	15. Email

_I didn't think I would have been able to admit my feelings to Hinata. Hell, I didn't think she would return my feelings. Though what I hadn't expected was to get some important message on my Pokégear. I didn't know why but I had a weird feeling going through my stomach._

Naruto was enjoying the feeling of Hinata in his arms, just enjoying the warmth of her skin, and the feel of her heart beating so hard against her ribcage that he could feel it. It was a feeling that he never wanted to lose. Though he knew that it could only last for so long. Tightening his hold on Hinata, Naruto lied his head on top of her head as he inhaled her sweet, sweet scent. Taking a deep breath, Naruto closed his eyes as he thought about what the future would have in store for him and Hinata, would he have to worry about the darkness that tried to consume him or would he suffer the same fate as his parents?

He wasn't sure, though what he did know was that he would make sure that Hinata didn't have to go through such pain. Both pain of the heart and pain of the body. He was going to make sure that she stayed safe, and nothing was going to stop him from doing that. He had to make sure that she stayed safe… it was the only way. "Hinata… if I ever lose myself to darkness, and I don't seem like I could come back… I want you to run and never look back."

Hinata didn't seem to answer him; maybe she didn't hear him or just wanted to bask in the moment. Either way, he felt like he needed to repeat himself to her, hoping that she would hear him this time. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Hinata's words had stopped him in his place. "I won't leave you Naruto… I would do anything to save you. I love you too much not to try to save you." whispered Hinata, clinging to Naruto tighter. It was as if she was just afraid that if she were to let go, that Naruto would fade from her arms.

Naruto pulled back and stared at Hinata with wide eyes. She wouldn't run away from him? "But Hinata what if you get hurt!? I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you!" Naruto said with a hint of fear and concern lacing his words.

Hinata just looked up at Naruto and smiled. Her smile was so radiant and bright, it made his heart skip a beat. Blushing softly, Naruto tried to keep himself calm and relaxed, though he knew that at the moment he had to make sure he didn't take things too far. When Naruto was about to open his mouth to tell Hinata that she shouldn't try to be a hero for him, his Pokégear started to beep.

Groaning, Naruto pulled away from Hinata and frowned a bit. It was from an unknown sender. But the message was loud and clear. He looked over at Hinata and saw her concerned look. It was clear that she was worried about him, thinking that he was going to try to leave her here. Naruto could only give her a bright smile as he said "it isn't what you think Hinata." Then, his face went serious as he said "but it is a message from someone I don't know."

Looking down at the message, Naruto showed Hinata the message.

_Hello Naruto Uzumaki, I request a visit with you and your blue haired friend. For, I wish to see you both and give you two information about your enemy and how you can beat them once and for all. Though the way to the big man, you'll need to be careful and listen to me once we meet. Meet me in the cave of Konoha at 10AM and come alone Naruto, only you and your friend may come for this information must not be shared with anyone else other than you two. From Secret Agent U._

"Who could this Agent U be?" asked Hinata with confusion as she looked up at the blonde haired trainer. The confusion in her lavender coloured eyes showed him that she was just as confused as he was, though he had a feeling that this was something that he had been praying for. The answers that he had wanted, such as who the boss was and maybe even how to beat him. There was just so much that he wanted to know, yet he wasn't sure if he would get all of the answers that he wanted or figured that he deserved.

Taking a deep breath, the young man calmly said "well, we won't know who it is until tomorrow… Until then, we can possibly just… relax? After all, we did have one hell of a battle today." Naruto ran a hand through his spiky locks as he let out a soft sigh. He was still pretty tired from the battle, using that weird flute sure did a number on his mental awareness for the time being, Naruto felt like he would have to sleep for a week.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto turned to Hinata and held her in his arms as he said "now… where were we?" He chuckled when he saw Hinata blush a bright red. Hinata was so damn cute when she blushed that it was impossible not to love her. Though, maybe he should stay in the village not just to meet that person tomorrow, but to chat with the people who knew his parents. He had to know something… he had to know the reason for why they worked for Orochimaru.

It has had Naruto curious since he saw that memory in the park. The day that his parents died and he had been taken into Orochimaru's custody. Looking down at Hinata, he gave her a soft smile before kissing her forehead. Naruto saw that she was concerned about him since he appeared to have been in thought. Though, he knew that it was because she loved him. "Hinata… I… I wanna know… why do you hide your hair?"

"When I have my hair down and I wear this hat, my hair gets frizzy; tucking it all in my hair lessens it since I have it in a bun… why do you wanna know?" Hinata stared at Naruto with her wide lavender coloured eyes. He couldn't help but smile at her; she was just so damn cute!

"I like your hair when it's down, it's just another add to your beauty." He chuckled before kissing her blushing cheeks and walked back to the house with Hinata. Maybe it was best that he stopped teasing her with his compliments, even if they were all true. For now, he had to get some more answers… though he just hoped that he didn't get punched in the face for leaving like he did before fully recovering.

* * *

"What were you thinking?!" shouted Tsunade as she punched Naruto in the face. Sending the blonde trainer flying through the air and into the wall.

"What is it with people punching me?!" shouted Naruto as he rubbed his face. Narrowing his eyes, he said "besides, you knew that I was going to leave! You didn't stop me; you just let me walk away." He growled out the last part, not knowing why Tsunade was even pissed off in the first place! For crying out loud she just watched him walk out of this place and hadn't tried to stop him and yet here she is now, punching him in the face.

"Yeah, though I wanted you to learn a lesson. A lesson that you shouldn't try to solve everything yourself. You need people in your life and need to trust others and depend on them. I won't just sit back and let you destroy yourself in both body and mind." Naruto just stared at Tsunade in shock; she had this whole thing planned didn't she? Damn this woman was confusing and he thought that Orochimaru was confusing… then again… is Orochimaru a woman? Shuddering at a memory he never wanted to see again, Naruto looked up at the blonde haired woman before pushing himself up and groaning, his back was hurting him to.

Rubbing his shoulders, Naruto went and sat down on the couch. He was still upset about being punched in the face though he knew that for now he would just have to let it slide. For now anyway. Looking at the blonde haired woman, he calmly asked "what do you know about my parents joining Team Snagem?" He tilted his head, wondering what was going on.

Tsunade didn't look like she wanted to talk about it. Though, her face also showed a certain kind of confusion. But why? Didn't she know about his parents reasons behind it or was it something else? The blonde haired woman sighed softly as she said "I don't know the full reason. Only that Team Snagem was stealing Pokémon and was looking for trainers. Your parents snuck in under cover and tried to get as much information as possible. But, sadly they didn't tell us what they had discovered. Only that Team Snagem was stealing Pokémon for some kind of organization. Otherwise, I don't know… I'm sorry Naruto."

Naruto of course, just sighed. Why? He was so close and yet he still didn't learn anything. This was pretty much information that was still going on. Team Snagem were still collecting Pokémon… okay they had been until he had destroyed everything. It seemed that no matter how close he was to an answer that it would only get pulled away from him when it was within his grasp.

"Naruto, Hinata… why don't you two stay the night and maybe you guys can pick up the trail tomorrow hm? Maybe there is something at the park you could check out since that was where your parents were before they died." Tsunade was right; maybe he would be able to find some answers tomorrow and he intends to get those answers if that agent ever shows up. Though Naruto wasn't going to tell Tsunade that or she would freak thinking that it was a trap.

Nodding, Naruto calmly said "alright Tsunade, I'll stay the night."

"You both get two separate rooms."

"What!?" Naruto said with shock.

"Just because your both a couple now, doesn't mean I want you two to go at it and have a child this early in the relationship."

Both Naruto and Hinata blushed at the very thought of having kids. Hinata almost fainted and Naruto almost slapped his forehead. What was wrong with these people?! Did they just assume that they were going to do that or what? Damn it, Naruto wanted to just share a bed with Hinata for now. Right now, there would way that they would be able to do that since he still had a mission to complete. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto calmly said "we weren't going to do anything like that!"

"What?!"

Turning his head, Naruto saw the man with the white haired man walk into the room. He wore binoculars and had a pen and notepad in his hands. Though it was his eyes that showed how angry he was right now. It was the way he was staring at Naruto and Hinata that had caused him to be so angry. Frowning in confusion, Naruto calmly asked "what? What's wrong?"

"If you two would go at it I would have great material for my book!"

"You're at it again Jiraiya? How many times have I told you not to peep on people!? Especially women?!"

"I need material for the sex scenes!"

"Damn it Jiraiya!"

"It isn't my fault! I would have had great notes for the scene if they would have gone at it! It's his fault for not going to make the move!" shouted the white haired man before punching Naruto hard enough for him to go flying into the wall. The blonde haired young man groaned as he slid down the wall before landing on the floor.

"Oh come on what did I do to deserve all these punches?!" shouted Naruto.

* * *

"That was some night…" mumbled Naruto, his arms crossed behind his head as he walked with Hinata to the only cave in Konoha. It wasn't that far though he had also known that no one went to that cave. Well, only the trainers that wish to see how well their training became. At least, that was what he had heard about in some stories that he's heard while in Team Snagem, and of course from Hinata while they walked toward the cave. His head also still hurt from being punched twice in one night.

"You okay though Naruto?" asked Hinata as she walked with him. Hinata didn't really have a lot of time after her shower since she had slept in. So, Hinata had just ran through the house, getting dressed, brushing her hair and teeth and just threw on her hat after putting her earrings back on. He had to admit Hinata was better with her hair down rather than have it held up in her hat.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto calmly said "I'm fine, though I have a small headache right now." He didn't really like it when he got headaches, sometimes they would get the best of him and he would end up being in bed for a few hours even after taking some pain killers for it. Though right now he was just thankful that his headache wasn't enough to cause him to fall over in pain. Looking up at the sky, the young man saw that it was still early in the morning, or at least earlyish to him. Looking over at Hinata, he saw that she was shaking a bit, making him think that her being outside in the morning, that the crisp air was making her cold thanks to her wet hair.

Giving her a soft smile, Naruto removed the snag machine before he took off his jacket. Handing it to Hinata, he calmly said "here, wear this as long as you need okay?" Her lavender eyes stared at him in shock only to smile softly with a small blush on her face. Damn it, her blush was so damn cute!

"We're here…" whispered Hinata.

Naruto looked up and saw a cave in front of them; Naruto didn't know what was going to be in the cave though he knew that it would be the lead to his answers. Running a hand through his hair, Naruto looked over at Hinata as he said "I'm ready for this Hinata." Hinata stared at him and smiled as she nodded at him.

Hinata smiled gently at Naruto before they both walked into the cave. Squinting his eyes, Naruto tried to see the surroundings though it would take a few minutes to only see the rocks. Looking around, Naruto called out "Agent U?"

"Welcome Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga…" said a mysterious voice. Naruto looked over and was about to say something. He wanted to see who this person was though the person interrupted him from what he was going to say. "Before we begin… I'd like to do one thing."

"Like what?"

"This." Said the mysterious person before Naruto suddenly felt something slamming into his cheek and his feet leaving the ground as he went flying in the air. Naruto yelped and rolled on the ground a foot or a couple feet away from where he was once standing.

"Oh come on!" shouted Naruto. Why was this happening!? Was it 'Punch Naruto in the face Week?' Either way, he didn't like it. Narrowing his eyes, he was about to push himself up until he felt someone's shoe on his chest. Blinking slowly, Naruto could see the form of the person a little easier. Soon, Naruto's eyes widened a bit as he screamed out "you!"


End file.
